After All Is Said And Done
by Barton-Lover
Summary: It happens quickly. So quickly that he can't even warn anyone. Clint gets sick. And this would be fine if someone could figure out what he is sick with. And the worst part, no one believes that he saw Phil Coulson, alive and well.
1. Getting Sick

He could feel it. In every fiber of his body. The sudden off-ness of his body. He hated it. Hated every second of what was about to come to him. But the worst was always the warning feelings he got. He'd just wake up one morning and something wouldn't feel right. Not that anything was wrong, just felt weird. Then it would progress until finally it hit him. Clint Barton was getting sick.

It was still to early to tell what sickness would be plaguing him. Or even how long it would last. Hell, Clint couldn't even fully tell when it would start. For all he knew he could be eating dinner with the other Avengers and then barf up the whole meal. But the one thing Clint did know was that when this sickness hit, it would be hard and fast.

* * *

It was two days after Clint realized that he was getting sick that it hit. Thankfully he was alone at the time. His alarm had just gone off, letting him know it was time to head to the archery range. But he never even left the room (apartment) that Tony had given to him when he moved in. Hell, he almost didn't even make it to the bathroom before redecorating the tile floor.

It took about a minute or two for him to fully finish heaving everything out of his stomach. And once he did, he stood there for a few moments, staring at the mess he made, wondering if more was coming. His legs shook and it seemed like the rest of his body was frozen. Not a single muscle wanted to move. It didn't frighten him. Hell, this was a normal feeling after he vomits because of a normal sickness. If he vomited because of drugs, then he could recover in seconds. But normal sickness threw his system enough to pause. Another minute passed before...

"Agent Barton, do you need assistance?" JARVIS called through a speaker placed somewhere nearby. Clint jerked up at the noise but the movement was too fast and his head disagreed so badly that the decision to add more to the mess at his feet was finalized. JARVIS stayed silent as the AI listened to the archer vomiting. For times like this the AI was glad he wasn't human. It took less time for Clint to finish this round. JARVIS could only assume it was because the human stomach couldn't contain much more crap then what was already on the bathroom floor. Groaning, Clint backed away from the bathroom and dropped to the ground, just outside the door. He turned and faced into his room, rather then the mess behind him. This new angle allowed him to lean back against the wall.

"No... I'll be fine," Clint finally responded. His head was pounding, his throat was now sore, dry and nasty feeling, and worst of all, his stomach still claimed that something was inside that needed out. There was also a slight pain in his ears that had some ringing but nothing that he really focused on. Course the pain in his head was so much worse that Clint couldn't fully analyze the actual amount of pain from his ears. Leaning back, Clint found himself almost falling back onto the floor. He hadn't backed up far enough to be at the edge of the bed. Moaning, he raised an arm to his forehead and slowly flopped onto the carpeted floor.

"Are you sure? I'm reading a raised temperature of 100.2 and rising. Along with the mess in the bathroom," JARVIS intoned. Clint groaned as his stomach heaved at the mention of his earlier sickness. "Would it not be best to have Dr. Banner come check on you?"

"I can take care of myself," Clint declared as he cracked one blurry eye open to glare at the ceiling. When he had closed them, he couldn't remember. He just knew that he had to open one to glare at the AI that Tony built. Not that it mattered, JARVIS couldn't actually see the glare coming from the fevered body of the archer. But it made Clint feel slightly better.

"Shall I record what is happening for future reference?" JARVIS questioned after a minute of pure silence. Sighing deeply, Clint wondered how he should answer. He wanted to say no and leave his misery private but god forbid that the wasn't a normal easy sickness like the flu. Bruce could use the footage for a baseline or something.

"Sure," Clint mumbled just as the Avenger's Alarm rang through his room. His pounding head didn't take the noise too kindly and ached even harder as Clint tried curling into a ball to protect his head and ears. "Shut it off!"

"Agent Barton, Captain Rodgers is ordering everyone to meet at the hanger. Shall I tell him you can't make it?" JARVIS retorted after he turned off the alarm. Clint made an undistinguishable sound but rolling over onto his back once more. "I'm sorry Agent Barton but I did not hear your answer."

"I'm getting ready!" Clint snapped before slowly and seemingly painfully getting off the floor. As he stood, a wave of dizziness made him pause. Groaning once again, Clint waited for it to pass before moving toward his rather small and mostly empty closet. Grabbing for his uniform, he pulled it off the hanger and dropped it onto his bed. As he started pulling off his nightshirt (the T-shirt he had been wearing the day before), Clint realized it was soaked with sweat.

"Shall I send up a maid to clean your room while you are away?" JARVIS called as Clint stripped down before going in search of new boxers. The archer looked solemnly back to the bathroom as he found a pair in the nightstand by his bed. Frowning, he noted that he didn't want to deal with it now, nor would he want to deal with it when it dried and stunk up his whole room.

"Yeah, sure," he answered as he grabbed for his black pants. As he buttoned them up, he felt his stomach turn again. They felt almost too tight. Clint groaned. His kevlar top was going to be even tighter and he had to strap it down. It was about now that Clint wished he had agreed to the R&D departments' wish to fix his uniform. "This is gonna suck."

"Captain Rodgers is asking for you," JARVIS mentioned as Clint slipped his top on. Moaning at the tight feel, he looked down at the straps and figured they could wait till he was on the jet. Turning back to his closet, he grabbed for his weapons bag.

"Tell him I'm on the way," Clint said as he proceeded to leave his room and head toward the hanger. He got there in record time, not remembering most of the trek, and climbed aboard to see that he was the last one on. Sadly the pain in his ears were worse now and so when Tony spoke, Clint almost couldn't hear him.

"What took so long? Fixing your lovely hair, Merida?" Tony remarked, nearly completely in the Iron Man suit. In his left hand was the helmet. Clint gave a half-hearted shrug before sitting down in the one open seat next to Natasha. She gave him a confused glance, basically asking if he was fine. All he did was nod his head toward Tony and roll his eyes. Natasha took that as a sign that he was good to go. With a soft smile on his face, Clint leaned back and just about missed her nod an okay to Steve before the loading doors closed and the jet got ready to launch. It was times like this that he was glad Natasha understood him without words. His throat was hurting so much that he felt like he might not be able to speak normally.

"Ok. We have a group of AIM scientists trying to steal some weapons from the US military. Now, normally we wouldn't be called in but-" Steve began explaining till Tony cut him off. Clint groaned softly when the jet's take-off and climb made his ears throb and only a second later realized he shouldn't have because his throat protested the noise.

"My friend Rhodey mentioned that some of the tech is old Stark Industries items. So, I offered our help," Tony declared like all the rest of them really cared. Clint frowned, trying to figure out what the group was talking about, as Natasha sat up straighter in her seat. She knew about Rhodes. Even Clint knew about the only other man to have a working Iron Man like suit. It took a moment for the archer to realize that Tony mentioned Rhodes. So Clint now turned to wondering why the rest of the Avengers were even bothering to help if War Machine was there. He'd rather stay back at the tower, even if his room smelt right now.

"Doesn't he have the War Machine suit?" she inquired. Tony's proud smile faltered for a brief second before he nodded. He had forgotten that Natasha had seen Rhodes fly off in the suit especially built for him. Clint was stunned to realize that his ears could barely identify what Natasha was saying beside him. It certainly explained why he was having such a hard time knowing what was going on. So he began lip reading, praying that his head wouldn't hurt too badly. Thankfully, being a sniper had forced him to learn such a unique talent. "And that's not good enough to stop the AIM group?"

"Most of Rhodey's systems are still part of Hammer's tech. The War Machine isn't as powerful as the Iron Man suit."

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why he, and apparently now you, need the rest of our help," Natasha countered making Tony feel a bit foolish. Clint smirked as he waited to hear the billionaire's excuse here. She had a point. If War Machine was already there, then really only Iron Man was needed. No one else needed to go. Especially not Bruce, who was sitting next to Steve with a curious expression as well.

"We are a team. Director Fury and our new handler, Agent Sitwell, thought it best if we all accompanied Stark in fighting AIM. I agreed," Steve responded for Tony. Natasha nodded her consent to that reason. She could see where Fury got off saying that the Avengers needed to look more like a cohesive group then the individuals they all used to be. "We have to look like we won't deal with problems alone. As a group, we can be a powerful force. Alone, we could seem... Spoiled."

"Um, that only fits for Tony," Clint commented, sounding normal, as he leaned forward. The flight wasn't doing good on his current state. He could almost feel the need to throw up again. Concentrating on everyone was making the need more pronounced. Especially his headache and now that he had spoken, his throat was really killing. Bruce leaned forward now as well, his attention riveted on Clint's palling appearance. The doctor could only hope that the archer was smart enough not to go on a mission sick. "None of the rest of us fight for our own goals."

"Hey!" Tony cried out in mock insult. Steve, Natasha and Bruce smirked. It was true, so none of them could argue against it.

"Avengers, we'll be at the battle in two minutes," the pilot called back in their moment of silence. Clint sighed as he began working as clipping his straps down on his suit. As he did so, Natasha grabbed his quiver out of his bag and prepped it for him. When he was ready to put it on, he gave her a small smile of thanks. She said nothing but when he added the extra weight to his back, she noted that he grimaced and almost grabbed his stomach.

"Are you okay?" she questioned. Clint gave her a cryptic smile before nodding and finished getting ready. Natasha frowned deeply but decided to trust that Clint knew his limits. Sadly she'd be mistaken.

"Everyone ready?" Steve asked as he hefted his shield up in preparation to drop into a heated battle. Bruce grimaced but nodded, he was already calling up a stronger anger to draw out the other guy in mid drop. Tony placed his remaining part of his suit on over his head and the others watched as the mechanics whirred to life and closed it around the man's head. As Steve glanced over to Natasha and Clint, the archer felt a slight wave of dizziness wash over him. Amazingly he was able to clear it and nod his head to the Captain before anyone noticed he wasn't feeling 100%. Steve nodded back and headed toward the rear of the Quinjet. Tony was right behind him, ready to fly the second the doors opened. Bruce and Natasha stood side by side, watching the others, also waiting to go. But Clint, still hadn't stood up to get ready. He was way too dizzy and sadly, his stomach was beginning to rebel again. Thankfully the doors opened and the others jumped out just as Clint let loose.

"Shit," he cursed when it was over. Not only had it made his throat worse, but his head was throbbing and his ears felt like they were about to explode. A second later, someone else cursed. The archer looked up, surprised. Staring at him was the pilot. Groaning, Clint stood and moved to follow the rest of the team.

"You sure you want to go fight?" the pilot asked, loudly enough that Clint could basically understand what he said. Clint scoffed and looked back at the now concerned man.

"Why not?" he responded before jumping off the plane, the pilot's protest getting lost in the wind. In mid drop, the archer surveyed the scene. Tony and Rhodes, in the War Machine suit, were on opposite ends of the battle. Steve was alone in the middle, tossing his shield only seconds after getting it back. Natasha was dashing around, helping groups of American soldiers in need. It surprisingly took a while to find the big green Hulk, but when Clint did, he was pleased to see the Hulk attacking only those in yellow outfits.

Finally focusing on where he was going to land, Clint prepared for the sudden stop. Sadly, no matter how much he prepared, he couldn't have expected his knees giving out on him and so he pretty much face-planted onto the ground. And to make matters worse, some AIM guys noticed and Tony noticed. While the AIM guys laughed at Clint as he got to his feet, Tony's voice came through his comm.

"What's wrong Katniss? Did someone push you?" Tony mocked and for half a beat, Clint was glad his ears seemed to clear enough to hear it fine. Clint growled as he lifted his bow and knocked enough arrows to hit all the guys around him. Thankfully the enemy was still too busy laughing at him to notice. But, they did stop at the blossoming pain in their chests before they dropped. Grinning, Clint spotted the hanger bay near-by. Perfect view of the battlefield.

"Can I get a lift?" Clint questioned to Tony but was surprised when War Machine flew over and hovered just in front of him. Clint got closer as Rhodes lifted his helmet to talk.

"Where to?" Rhodes asked as he held his hand out to Clint. As the archer grasped it, Rhodes pulled him close.

"The hanger," Clint muttered just as War Machine lifted into the air. Praying that the motion wouldn't bother his stomach, Clint was shocked to notice that Rhodes seemed more in tune with his passenger then Tony. Where Tony would just rocket off so fast that you might lose your breath, Rhodes took it nice and easy.

The landing was just as smooth as the take-off and Rhodes didn't simply drop the archer like Tony might have done. Nope, instead Rhodes completely landed before releasing Clint's body from his hold and stepped back, checking to make sure his passenger was steady. Clint didn't even stumble, and so with a nod, Rhodes took back off into the fray and Clint took a moment to steady his still upset stomach.

"Ah, Rhodey, Barton can handle more then that?" Tony joked on his way flying past. Clint rolled his eyes before setting himself up with a perfect view of the battle and started to load an arrow.

"Apparently, you've never been passenger to your rides. The outside pressure of take off can be rather harsh," Rhodes automatically reported. Clint and Tony snorted as the archer released an arrow that struck an AIM officer going towards a different hanger near-by. It was at this time that Clint began to realize that focusing on the battle helped him forget that he was ill.

"Colonel Rhodes, which building are they mainly going for?" Steve called over the comms as Clint began to get into a steady rhythm of shooting his arrows at people. It didn't take long after settling into his perch for Clint to realize that everyone was working on getting in or protecting every other hanger.

"Actually..." Rhodes began but paused for a moment. Clint quickly glanced toward the grayish silver suit to see the man attacking a small enforcement of AIM guys heading into a small hanger diagonal to Clint's current position. Once Rhodes was done, he spoke again. "The hanger they want is the one where Hawkeye is positioned but, we want to leave it alone because they seem more interested in the others."

"Agreed. Barton, you will be the main protection on that hanger," Steve announced. Clint hummed into his comm as he shot two guys trying to sneak up on Steve's back. As the captain turned around, he spotted the falling bodies and nodded toward Clint. The archer smiled just before his stomach revolted and Clint had to spin away from the edge to try and throw up whatever new item had appeared.

It took another two minutes to finish dry heaving and calming his system enough to turn back to the fight. As he began shooting again, Clint suddenly noticed that his head was starting to spin and the ringing in his ears was worse. Shaking it in an effort to clear the dizziness, Clint tried to focus on his targets. He got off three more shots before his vision started to gray out. Backing away from the edge, Clint fell onto his butt and then back before promptly passing out.

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**So, what does everyone think? I hope you all enjoy it! I know I've had fun writing it. ^_^**


	2. Keeping it a Secret

**So, apparently the best way to get popular on is to say your Avengers story has Phil Coulson. LOL! ^_^**

**I'm so glad that everyone is liking this story! It means so much to me! But then again, you guys don't want to read that... You want to read the story, so... Here it is!**

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"-int? -rton?" a worried voice called out into the darkness of Clint's hazily sick mind. Slowly, Clint realized he knew that voice. It wasn't annoying, so not Tony. Not female, big hint that it wasn't Natasha. Didn't sound mad, so not Fury. Hell, also wasn't all that concerned. Steve would have been worrying his fucking mind out. Thor was still off world. So, that simple left...

"Bruce?" Clint groaned, his sore throat making his voice sounding weaker then it really was. Slowly he began to open his eyes and actually look around. Yup, it was Bruce. Leaning over the archer's face, Bruce seemed slightly worried but also not worried. It was a strange face. Glancing past the doc, Clint noticed he was still on the hanger that he had positioned himself on.

"Nice to see you awake," Bruce commented as Clint took in more of his surroundings. Realizing that he couldn't see much while laying on his back, Clint tried to sit up. Only his efforts were stopped by Bruce lightly pressing his hand against Clint's chest. "I need to know how you feel before I let you sit up."

"Fine," Clint lied as his head spun crazily. His eyes blinked in rapid succession, indicating to Bruce that everything was far from fine. The doc rolled his eyes and placed his other hand against Clint's forehead. A moment later, he drew back, his face looking more concerned then before.

"Clint, you have a fever. Are you ill?" Bruce questioned. Clint groaned as his head started pounding worse then before, making his headache also worsen and then weakness seeped into his muscles. He really wanted to lie to the other Avenger but his body was quickly betraying him. "Clint?"

"Good," Clint muttered so softly that Bruce almost missed it. Frowning, Bruce centered a gaze that told Clint that he better not be trying to bullshit the doc. "Better than this morning."

"And how did you feel this morning? Fever? Stomach pains? Nausea?" Bruce asked. Clint's gaze drifted over toward his dried bile. It took the doctor a few seconds before his eyes looked over at the same thing. "Did you also throw up this morning?"

"Woke up that way," Clint grumbled. Bruce's frown deepened, alerting Clint to the fact that his one bit of honesty was going to cost him. As he watched Bruce looking him over, Clint began to feel even worse. His headache intensified, his weakness made him want to face-plant into the ground and sleep, and his stomach was working very hard on finding something to vomit. Even his ears were screaming in protest. The worst though was his throat but Clint just prayed that that was from the constant vomiting. Overall, he was 100 times worse then this morning.

"You went on a mission, sick?" Bruce exclaimed softly. Clint gave a sheepish shrug just as his stomach decided it had yet again filled with too much bile. Turning his head to the side, the archer had just enough time to push Bruce back before the bile flew from his mouth. "Oh, Clint. Jesus."

"Bruce? How is Barton?" Steve's voice cut through the sounds of retching. Bruce frowned and looked up, the Captain had reached the same rooftop and was about to turn the corner to check on them. The doctor knew he had to stop him. If not for Steve's comfort, then for Clint's pride. Bruce could only assume that the archer was like him, embarrassed to be sick.

"If you have a queazy stomach, stop right there," Bruce ordered. Steve froze and in the silence of confusion, heard Clint vomiting. The captain paled. It's been a long time since he heard someone loosing their stomach. But even then, it brought back so many memories of when he had to see it or even did it himself. That was when Steve's own stomach turned. Thankfully, since turning super soldier, Steve has never thrown up. So he rounded the bend just as Clint coughed and turned back to Bruce.

"What happened?" Steve asked as he noted Clint's red flushed face and neck followed by Bruce's worried gaze on the archer. Bruce slowly turned away from the archer to look at the leader of the Avengers and pretty much wished that he wasn't in this situation. If he was this upset with Clint going into a battle sick, Bruce could only imagine how pissed off Steve would get.

"Clint," Bruce began to explain but Clint began talking over him.

"I was feeling off and got distracted," Clint lied. Steve frowned, knowing that that wasn't the truth. He could hear it in Clint's voice. It sounded like even the effort of speaking was painful and tiring. But seeing as Clint didn't seem to be wanting to give it, Steve dropped it. He just figured he could talk to Bruce later, when Clint wasn't around. "So, what's up?"

"Nothing, just wanted to let you two know that our ride is here," Steve told the two. Bruce nodded and turned to watch as Clint struggled to get to his feet. Steve frowned, now more certain that something was wrong but had no idea what to do about it. It took Clint falling onto his butt three times before Bruce stood and easily held a hand out to the archer and lifted him to his feet. Clint, embarrassed, thanked him. "We ready?"

"Yeah," Clint responded before stumbling toward the doorway that Steve had passed through only minutes before. Bruce walked towards Steve's side and then paused. Steve waited until Clint had vanished around the corner to speak. Too bad Clint hadn't gone through the doorway and so he heard the conversation.

"What really happened?" Steve questioned. Bruce hesitated for a moment. He wanted to make sure that Clint was really gone before speaking. Sadly Clint had heard the Captain and decided to wait until he heard them moving toward him. His ears pounded with every word, making it much easier to actually tell what the two were saying.

"Clint mentioned something like waking up sick," Bruce admitted. Steve turned to face the doctor in surprise. He didn't want to believe that Clint would have been that stupid. No, not that he didn't. Steve honestly couldn't believe it. "He actually threw up before, that I know of, and then the one you walked in on."

"Why would he come on a mission, ill?" Steve muttered, not fully expecting an answer. Bruce shrugged. The doc had no idea. "What would make him think it was okay?"

"Maybe he was trying to prove something," Bruce suggested. Clint stiffened. He had been. Secretly, Clint was trying to prove something. He had been trying to prove that he could handle it. Shaking the thoughts from his head, Clint sighed.

"Prove what?" Steve asked. Bruce frowned and looked to the Captain.

"Think about it. Tony has the suit. I have the other guy. Thor is a god. You have the super solider serum. And even Natasha admitted to me that she had been slightly enhanced by the Red Room. Clint is completely human, from what I know," Bruce explained as though it should be obvious. Steve groaned. He never thought of it that way. "Look, I'm not saying that that's true. It's just something that I've been thinking. And trust me, if I've been thinking about it, someone else is as well. Wether that is Clint or not, I don't know."

"I can't... No... He can't think that," Steve stuttered out. Bruce shrugged again before turning to leave the roof. Clint vanished through the door and down the stairs before Bruce could even round the corner. Mentally he was yelling at himself for being so stupid. How could it be so obvious that Clint was uncertain in his place on the team? Yeah, it had been almost a year since the Manhattan incident and no one mentioned that he wasn't up to par. But it was something that still worried Clint.

Halfway down the stairs, Clint felt too dizzy to move on. He stopped and leaned against the wall. His head was pounding, his throat was dry and so sore that he almost couldn't remember it feeling fine, and his stomach was claiming that it was close to being full once again. At least his ears were calming, but any noise made them throb. Clint groaned. This sickness could get him kicked off the team. Letting his head drop against the wall, Clint felt tears begin to form in his eyes.

"I don't want to leave," Clint whined to himself. Thankfully no one was around to hear. But after a few seconds, Clint could hear Bruce and Steve lumbering down the stairs. Sighing, he went to push off the wall and continue down the stairs, but Bruce noticed him.

"Clint," the doctor called just before the archer's dizziness returned and made him loose his balance. Clint only had a second to look up toward Bruce and Steve before falling down the stairs.

"CLINT!"

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**Sorry it's shorter but I felt that that was the best place to cut it. At least I can promise that all chapters are going to be over 1000 words. Anyways, please review, follow or favorite! I'm not the only one who enjoys it, my husband loves checking my phone to see that rather then an alert from another author that I'm following. LOL!**


	3. Understanding Why

**I should have posted this on Wednesday but, I kept on forgetting. Then Thursday I was out all day and Friday I spent the day in the hospital from dehydration and early/fake contractions... But everything is fine, baby still good, just waiting on the actual day. Anyways, THANKS FOR READING!**

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Clint came too very slowly. His head was hurting worse then ever before. For once, his stomach seemed settled but as his throat felt like it was on fire, Clint realized that maybe it wasn't the vomiting. His ears were a dull ache, which was nice. A slight pain in his right shoulder was new. And even a slight pain in his left leg. Groaning, Clint worked on opening his eyes. Worse mistake he'd make. The lights in the room were far too bright and the sharp pain in his eyes made him close them quickly and turned his stomach around.

"Shit," Clint whispered just before getting to a sitting position and twisting enough to vomit off his current bed. He was shocked to not hear it splatter about the floor. It sounded more like he was throwing up into some sort of container. Cracking his eyes open once again, Clint noticed someone was holding a trash can underneath him. But the better news, someone else had turned down the lights. It took about a minute for Clint to finish emptying his stomach of bile, medication, and other various things.

"You good?" Bruce's voice called into the archer's haze. For a moment, Clint did nothing but think about what the doc was asking. Then he finally nodded slowly and sat back. The sounds of flushing and water running assaulted the archer's now pained ears only a few seconds later. Clint groaned and went to roll onto his right side but stopped at the searing pain from his shoulder. "Jeez! Clint, don't roll around!"

"What happened?" Clint moaned as he laid flat on his back thanks to Bruce's prodding. Blue eyes focused on the doc as Bruce looked toward someone else in the room. Sighing, the doc answered.

"You fell down the stairs after our mission. You dislocated your right shoulder, sprained the knee in your left leg, gave yourself a concussion and the sickness you had before... Well, we're still working on exactly what's wrong," Bruce answered. Clint frowned. The concussion explained the extreme pain in his head. He's had a dislocated shoulder before so that was no big deal. A sprained knee was new. But what worried him more was that Bruce had no answer for this random sickness.

"Did you get the info from JARVIS?" Clint asked so softly that Bruce almost missed it. Thankfully the other person in the room heard.

"Yeah, JARVIS sent it when I informed Pepper that we were going to the Helicarrier," Tony's voice drifted toward Clint from the opposite side of the room as Bruce. Clint slowly looked over and as he turned, the archer noticed Natasha and Steve at the foot of his bed and Rhodes standing slightly behind them. Tony was standing right beside the door but moved closer to the bed when Clint noticed him. "He said that you woke up sick and gave us not only the stats from this morning but the past week."

"I've been feeling off for only the past two days," Clint mentioned. Tony, Bruce and Steve traded glances at his terminology. Rhodes shifted toward the door, looking like he was going to leave. Natasha, having caught the three Avengers trading looks, nodded her head.

"Clint once told me that he can tell when he's going to get sick. He gets this feeling like something about his body is off, or wrong. And pretty soon after he gets a cold, the flu, or anything else. It's normal for him," Natasha explained. Clint nodded but regretted it as his concussed head protested and made his stomach revolt. Thankfully there was nothing to throw up so he just dry heaved over his lap.

"Oh my god! Clint!" Pepper's voice suddenly burst through the room as she entered, nearly frazzling a nurse who was coming past to check on other patients. Her high pitched voice made it feel like Clint's ears were about to burst, but he held in the pained groan. Clint turned to see her as the red head rushed past Bruce's side to come and grab onto the archer's left hand. "What happened?"

"Basically, Katniss decided it would be cool to go help Rhodey while sick and then fell down some stairs," Tony bluntly stated. Pepper's eyes widened in shock at the news before turning a glare down on Clint. Her hand reached out and lightly slapped Clint across his left shoulder.

"Ow!" Clint softly called, even though he felt no pain. It was just typical human reaction to a shocking event that could cause pain.

"You moron. Why would you go on a mission sick?" Pepper whined. Clint gave her a soft smile.

"Hey, I've done it before," he retorted. Natasha snorted.

"Yeah, getting malaria while on a month long mission in Africa doesn't count," she responded. Clint shrugged as Natasha rolled her eyes. He was used to this.

"How did you get malaria?" Steve questioned.

"A damned mosquito bit me on the first day there... About ten days later, I started getting sick. Phi... Coulson was the one who figured it out. He wanted me to leave almost right away but I swore I could complete the mission. Six days later, I found out what I needed to find out but was then hospitalized. I never did find out who finished my mission," Clint answered as though it was no big deal that he tended to still work while feeling unwell.

"Then lets not even get into the Manhattan attack," Natasha snorted once again as she turned her back on Clint and walked toward the in suite bathroom. Tony raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Steve put his hands on his hips and glared down at Clint. Bruce shook his head in disbelief. Pepper frowned and Rhodes stepped forward.

"What happened with that?" Rhodes asked, curious as he wasn't there after the shawarma event to see Clint drop unconscious.

"Uh. Malnourished, sleep deprived, dehydrated... Crap, there was something else," Clint groaned as he tried to remember everything the doctors had yelled at him about the day after. His head protested thinking and his throat was really hating that he was still speaking. At least his ears were hurting slightly but didn't effect his ability.

"Well, you had three broken ribs. A sprained wrist and a huge bruise on your back. But that was from after the battle. Before you also had a minor case of the flu along with the other things you mentioned," Bruce explained, having had helped the S.H.I.E.L.D doctors that day.

"Clint, you really should take care of yourself," Pepper moaned as she looked down at the archer with a saddened face. Clint shrugged. He didn't see any problem with what he was doing. Only he really knew his limitations, or so he had thought.

"Everything is fine. I can handle myself," Clint said as he laid back on the bed. This time it was Bruce who snorted in response to the archer's statement. Clint glanced over at the doc.

"Yeah, that's why I found you unconscious on the roof. Especially when you were silent from half the battle. And our pilot mentioned you not only vomited before exiting the plane but, you vomited twice on the roof," Bruce snapped. Clint winced when everyone leveled a glare on him. "That's really handling it?"

"Uh. Yes?" Clint questioned. Bruce threw his hands into the air in frustration before walking away from the bed but not leaving the room. Steve shook his head in disgrace. Natasha, who had just come out of the restroom, frowned deeply. Pepper sighed and turned to find a seat somewhere in the room. Rhodes rolled his eyes and then Tony laughed.

"Are you kidding me? Even I'm not that self destructive," the billionaire taunted. Clint gazed at Tony as if he had grown two extra heads.

"Yeah, that's why we have the story of you destroying your Malibu home, peeing in your Iron Man suit and attacking Rhodes," Clint retorted. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Not the same thing. I knew I was dying. To be honest, I didn't really care," Tony mentioned. This time, Tony got the glares from the whole group. "Hey, I figured no one would care if I died. I set Pepper up as CEO, Rhodey had his War Machine suit, Stark Industries was set. Everything was ready for me to just... Well, go."

"You are not helping," Steve nearly growled at Tony. The genius shrugged and rolled his eyes. He turned away and sat in a seat next to Pepper. A second later there was a loud slap and then Tony was whining about the red hand print appearing on his right cheek.

"Look, Clint. We really should let you rest. Your shoulder, knee and head should be fine in a few days with bed rest. The doctors here will keep working on your fever and sickness," Bruce mentioned. Clint shifted uncomfortably. But he didn't have to say anything.

"Actually, I already got the doc's okay to bring him back to the Tower. They said that JARVIS and you could easily help send the data over that they'd need and he'd rest there better then here," Natasha explained. Clint smiled. Both assassins hated staying in any type of medical area for long. Normally Coulson had it set up that if it was okay, once they had woken up, they'd be transferred to their rooms on the carrier.

Bruce didn't seem to like this idea but when he noticed Clint relax, he let it go. Steve gave the two a soft smile before nodding and turning to leave. Rhodes understood that that meant he should go as well and so he slipped out the door without a word. Pepper was next to stand and prepare to leave, but she wanted to bring Tony with her and right now, the billionaire finally realized that if Clint went to the Tower, there would be a sick man in his home.

"Uh, no. If he's sick, I don't want him in my house," Tony objected. Pepper slapped his arm in frustration before looking at Clint's slowly paling face.

"Don't worry Clint. You can come back to the Tower," she told him. Tony began whining again about how Clint will spread germs and what if he was dangerous and other such things. Pepper just ignored it before grabbing the genius's ear and dragging him out of the room. Clint snorted at Tony as he heard the last complaint that if the billionaire got sick then it was Pepper's fault.

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**Again, a short chapter, sorry. I hope to finish the next chapter early and post the next one sooner then next week. Besides, next week is my BABY SHOWER!**

**Anywho, don't forget to review, favorite and follow! As I said last chap, it's not just me who enjoys it. My husband loves stealing my phone after I post and reading the reviews and other e-mails. Until next time!**


	4. Back to the Tower

**So, brand new news on my baby! He is actually 4 weeks bigger then he should be so I may go into labor in the second to last week of August... Which means I have less time then I thought to post this story! _ AH! Better get to typing the rest so I can hopefully post faster!**

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"Do you want my help?" Bruce asked when it was finally just him, Natasha and Clint left in the room. Natasha edged toward the door in a show that she really didn't want to help Clint. She'd rather wait outside. Sighing, Clint nodded. Natasha gave him a soft smile and vanished outside the door. "Okay, I'll go get the clothes. Natasha left them somewhere."

"Probably in the bathroom or some drawer," Clint retorted as Bruce wandered over toward the bathroom. When the archer noticed the doctor's smile, he could only assume that Natasha had left the clothes there. Bruce went into the bathroom and brought them back out. Clint quickly went about unhooking the various machines that S.H.I.E.L.D medical had hooked him up to.

"Whoa there," Bruce called when he turned back around to see Clint was now sitting up and working on sliding off the bed. The doc rushed to his side and grasped his left arm to support his left knee as Clint landed lightly on the floor. Clint hissed when Bruce, nor he, was fast enough to keep the knee from bending. "You should have waited a second."

"Faster out, the better I'll feel," Clint groaned as the two walked over towards the pile of clothes. Once he was stable on his right leg, Bruce went about untying the hospital gown while Clint unfolded the shirt. The two quickly exchanged places and Clint realized suddenly that he was happy that medical had left some boxers on for him. Now the hard part. Clint stared at the pair of pants in bewilderment. "How we gonna do this?"

Bruce's response was to grab a chair and slid it over. Clint winced slightly at the sound on metal on linoleum but smiled lightly when he understood what the doc was doing. Without waiting for Bruce to say anything, Clint slowly relaxed down into the chair. Bruce nodded and grabbed the pants. Unfolding them, he opened the top and patiently waited for Clint to lift his legs. Clint did his right leg rather easily but when it came to his left, the knee protested holding the lower part and he hissed in pain.

"Sorry," Bruce muttered before leaning down and holding Clint's leg as he slid the pants up as far as he could. Once it got too high, Bruce handed the pant top over to Clint and rolled the bottom so his feet were free. Then the doc helped the archer stand and Clint pulled the pants up the rest of the way. Once done, Clint smiled like they had gone through a huge ordeal. Bruce laughed. "I'll go get a wheelchair. You sit back down."

"Sure thing, doc," Clint said as he gently sat back down and tried to watch Bruce leave. As the doc left, Steve, Tony, Natasha, and Pepper reentered the room. "Hey."

"Almost ready to go?" Steve asked. Clint smiled and then felt it. It had been long enough for his stomach to refill. Apparently he groaned or made some sort of noise that alerted Pepper, of all people, that he was about to vomit. She grabbed the nearest vessel (the same trash bin from before) and held it into his lap seconds before the bile came up.

"Ah! I don't want to get sick," Tony cried before nearly running out of the room. Natasha and Steve both shook their heads with a smirk on their faces. A few seconds later, everyone heard Bruce speak over Clint's sounds.

"You do realize you been already infected by being in the plane where he vomited, you were here when he first woke up and vomited, and if it was contagious, then the germs are already all around the Tower from the two days that Clint felt strange," Bruce was telling the genius. A moment later, Bruce and Tony entered with a wheelchair. "Ready to... Oh."

"Give it a minute. He's mostly dry heaving," Natasha noted when Bruce spotted Clint throwing up. As Natasha said, almost a minute later, Clint stopped and leaned back into the chair. Pepper waited a second before taking the bin away to go clean it. "You good now?"

"Seems empty," Clint joked. No one seemed to enjoy the joke. Rolling his eyes, Clint worked on getting himself up to exchange the chair for the wheelchair. Once he stood, someone removed the chair and replaced it with the wheelchair so that he wouldn't have to move. Slowly, he returned to sitting. Then Bruce came around front and lifted one of the feet and then raised his left leg into it.

"You okay?" Bruce asked, concerned for Clint's comfort. Clint nodded and then they were off.

It took an hour for the group to get from Medical up to the launch bay, load onto a waiting quinjet, and then fly off towards Stark Tower. During that time, Clint vomited twice more and passed out during the actual take off. At first everyone was concerned but calmed when Bruce mentioned that the concussion more than likely made him pass out. So when Clint recovered halfway there and vomited, everyone partly wished he was still unconscious. After landing on Stark Tower, everyone slowly disembarked and headed to the elevator.

"Clint, where would you like to stay?" Pepper suddenly inquired when the doors closed. Clint looked at her in surprise.

"What?" he called. Pepper looked down at him with a soft smile. Her hand was tightly gripping and twisting one of Tony's fingers so he couldn't protest. In the mirrored walls of the elevator, Steve and Natasha enjoyed watching the billionaire squirm.

"Well, you could stay in your room if you want. But I figured that you'd like to take the couch in the living room so that you'll still be out with everyone. That couch does change into a fold out bed. I think I even made sure it was a memory foam mattress," Pepper pointed out. Clint raised an eyebrow at her. "I only ask cause I know that I wouldn't want to be locked away in my room while I heal."

"Oh," Clint responded, thinking about it now. He had been planning on getting locked in his room and only having Bruce and Natasha visiting. But if everyone would be okay with him in the living room.

"I think that sounds wonderful," Natasha answered for the archer. Clint slowly nodded his own consent and everyone watched as Tony's face scrunched into something akin to pain. He let out a low whine but Pepper still didn't release him. About a floor away from the living room, Bruce began to feel bad for Tony. He was starting to kneel on the floor.

"I think you might be about to break his finger," Bruce mentioned. Pepper looked down with a face that seemed like she just realized she was twisting her boyfriend's hand.

"Oh," she called before releasing the hand. Tony's gasp as the pain vanished made most of the group laugh lightly.

"Jesus woman! Are you trying to kill me?" he cried as he began to cradle his hand.

"That wouldn't kill you," Bruce countered and Tony's face stated his disagreement. The elevator then took that moment to open and everyone unloaded. A half hour later, Clint was sprawled across the fold out couch. He had a few pillows set up to help him sit up. Beside the couch was a large bucket that everyone (except Tony) promised to empty when they noticed anything in it. On the stand next to the couch's armrest was a large warm glass of ginger ale. Playing on the TV was an anime show called _Is This a Zombie?_.

"You gonna need anything else?" Natasha whispered before dropping down onto the mattress beside Clint. The archer glanced over at her before slowly shaking his head no. His pain medication from S.H.I.E.L.D medical was still working, not as well as he hoped, but it's never good to mix medications. Natasha smiled and began to curl herself up against him. Steve had already claimed the recliner nearby, but he had his sketchbook so he wasn't watching the show. Tony vanished once Pepper began unmaking the fold out couch. Bruce mentioned going to check on some of the data that JARVIS compiled and Pepper headed off toward the kitchen to see if she could come up with a good idea for dinner.

No less then ten minutes later, Natasha shifted to look up at Clint. The archer was fast asleep. Smiling, she reached across his stomach to grab the remote but she must have put too much weight down on him because next thing Natasha knew, she was being tossed across the bed as Clint groped for bucket beside the mattress. He just about made it.

"He okay?" Steve softly called when he looked up from his sketch. Natasha frowned and watched Clint for a moment before deciding that he was good. She nodded to Steve and he sighed before going back to his work. Seconds later, Clint dropped the bucket back down and laid back with a loud moan.

"Don't touch the stomach," Clint whined as he spotted Natasha getting up to go clean the bucket. She smiled softly.

"Figured," she told him.

"What were you doing anyways?" he moaned.

"Was trying to get the remote to change the channel. This show is really weird," Natasha retorted. Clint frowned and looked at the show.

_"Why do you keep calling him maggot?"_

_"Maybe cause it reminds me of fag-"_

_"SHUT UP!"_

"Ah," Clint answered after hearing that little scene.

"Sides, I thought you were asleep," Natasha mentioned before leaving the room. Clint settled back down and began flipping through the channels again to find something else to watch. Sadly there wasn't much good on. So Clint finally settled on a program called _Cops_. Natasha came back then and placed the bucket back beside Clint. As she headed to the other side of the bed, she spotted the new show. "_Cops_ really?"

"Nothing else good on," Clint said as he relaxed deeper into the bed. Natasha nodded and slowly put herself in a similar position from before. This time she was more conscious of where Clint's stomach was compared to her body. Clint's soft smile to her showed that he really appreciated it. Twenty minutes later, he was back asleep.

"Dinner's almost ready," Pepper lightly told the group when she came in thirty minutes later. Natasha began to stretch and uncurl herself at the words. Steve nodded and closed his sketchbook. Pepper's eyes gazed down on the still sleeping Clint. "Should we wait for him?"

"Not sure he'd want to eat anything anyways. But I'll wake him," Natasha informed her before lightly placing her hand on his left shoulder. A groan escaped the archer's lips as he slowly became aware of what was going on around him. "Dinner?"

"Sure, not like I have to clean up when it comes back," Clint lightly joked. Natasha frowned and looked about. Thankfully Pepper and Steve had already walked off, so they didn't hear the joke. But, if they were anything like her, they'd decide the joke wasn't funny and would rather Clint stay in bed. Too bad he was already up and heading toward the kitchen, limping funnily on his bad knee. Natasha rolled her eyes before hurrying up to help her stubborn partner.

"Hey, feeling better?" Bruce questioned when Clint and Natasha entered the kitchen. Clint shrugged, unsure how to answer. Truthfully the pains in his body were vanishing but his stomach was still upset. And a new thing was that he felt like the whole room was freezing, a sure sign (for him) that he had a fever.

"You gonna throw up dinner here, cause if so, I don't want to eat with you," Tony half seriously stated. Clint smiled and gave Natasha a quick glance. She shifted her trajectory from the nearest chair to the chair right next to Tony. Once he was seated, Natasha then sat on the archer's other side. Tony looked like he was about to die.

Now, most people would just move to a different spot and be done with it. But not Tony. No, this particular seat was his seat. Only he sat here. It was the equal to the head of the table, even though the table was round so there was no head. But he always sat there and Pepper always sat in the seat that Clint was currently occupying. His other side normally had Steve. Which speaking of, Tony glanced over and noticed Steve had moved down a seat, making room for Pepper on Tony's new side. And seconds after Tony spotted that fact, Pepper entered with a few plates.

"Oh," she called softly at the new seating arrangement. Bruce jumped to his feet when he saw her fully loaded hands. And he quickly offered help in putting the plates down on the table. The food looked wonderful. Pepper had made some type of chicken dish with spices covering the top. It was surrounded by vegetables, some also littered with the spices from the chicken. Another plate was actually a bowl of mashed potatoes that looked to be cheesy potatoes. Near by was another bowl of vegetables that wasn't covered in spices but looked buttered. And lastly was a smaller bowl of some type of soup that was placed before Clint.

"Chicken noodle? Really?" Clint whined when he noticed what it was. The rest of the Avengers smiled lightly. Only Pepper would think to make the sick man a soup. But as they thought more on the way Clint sounded, they began to wonder if he was pleased.

"What, do you not like soup?" Tony mocked, but his tone did hold an edge to it. Clint immediately understood how his whining sounded. He had meant no offense to Pepper. And as he looked up to see Pepper, Clint could see the beginnings of hurt in her eyes.

"Oh! No, it's not that. Believe me," Clint cried softly, holding his hands out in defense. Everyone seemed to calm. His next few sentences came out softer with each word. "It's just... Well... I've never had chicken noodle soup."

"What?" Pepper, Steve and Bruce called at the same time. Clint looked away embarrassed. He really didn't want to talk about it. But when he looked to Natasha for help, he noticed she had a confused expression on.

"Coulson made me soup when I got sick," Natasha whispered, making Clint slightly jealous. Clint groaned.

"Well..." he moaned. Then Pepper understood.

"You work through the illnesses that would normally have chicken noodle attached to it," she muttered in a stunned tone. Clint blushed and nodded.

"I never really had parents that cared if I was sick. Hell, my dad used to beat me if I complained about anything. When I got to the circus, no one wanted to waist their own money on buying the ingredients for any type of soup. So I got used to working through it. Then, I was on my own for a bit before Coul... Coulson enlisted me. By then I was used to working through colds, flus, and the like. Anything I wasn't used to working through, no one found out about until I needed to stay in medical or a hospital," Clint explained. No one said a word. "I normally never left there until I could hold down solid foods and S.H.I.E.L.D isn't one for giving away soup. I guess Coulson never got around to making me any when I would start to feel better. Nearly every time I went from IV food to solid foods like toast."

"Well, guess you should get used to soup for a little while," Pepper informed the archer with a tight smile. Everyone seemed slightly tense until she said that. Then the atmosphere relaxed and they all started to eat. Clint was the first one done. And everyone laughed when the archer drained the bowl by holding it to his lips and drinking the rest of it down.

"Did you make any more?" Clint sheepishly asked once the bowl was empty. That just made most of them laugh harder.

"Actually, I think you should take it easy," Bruce mentioned softly. Clint pouted but agreed to the doc's suggestion. Fifteen minutes later, once everyone was done with food, Clint was glad he had agreed. His stomach rejected everything during the group watching of _Killers_. Tony ran out of the room right away. Steve paled. Bruce sighed. Natasha shifted away from Clint. And Pepper patiently waited for him to stop. But in between Clint's own loud noises, everyone heard a sort of echo.

"Oh, Tony," Pepper moaned before rushing off toward the nearest bathroom. There she found poor Tony sitting over the toilet, emptying his own stomach. A minute later, with Pepper rubbing his back, Tony looked up at her.

"How long is he gonna be sick?" the billionaire muttered. Pepper shrugged. "This is gonna be hell."

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**And that is the end for chapter 4. Hope everyone enjoyed! Don't forget to review, favorite or follow! As said before, my husband adores opening my mail to see what everyone did! Thanks!**


	5. Taking Care

**Is it Friday already? Wow. Well, for next Friday I'll have a new update on baby Clint. We'll all know if he's going to be born in August or September. Course, he could always confuse us and be born before Friday. _ Lets hope I can finish writing this story before he does come though. Thank god I already have 11 chapters written. So that's 6 more...**

**Anyways, new chapter! Enjoy!**

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It took three days for Bruce and S.H.I.E.L.D Medical to agree that Clint could use his right arm and left knee. Course it was only as long as he took it easy. So he still couldn't shoot his bow and arrows for another week or so. But at least now he was mobile enough to not have the bucket by the bed cause he could now rush to the bathroom instead. But Bruce began to get worried when Clint's balance seemed to be thrown by the random illness he had. He also had gotten a deep cough that made his throat burn more then ever.

Tony avoided Clint for mostly the whole time. Then again, every now and then, Clint would awaken to some sort of robotic toy or electronic call button for any of his needs. It made Clint smile when he realized that this was Tony's way of wishing him better seeing as he couldn't be in the same room with him. Natasha tended to enjoy the call buttons more then Clint, but it was the thought that counted.

Steve tended to hole out in the recliner with his sketchpad. If he didn't have the sketchpad then he had a book. Normally Clint and Natasha tended to forget that he was even in the room. But a few times, Clint had vomited while Natasha was gone and Steve was the one who rubbed his back. And when Clint tried to have a conversation with the super solider, it normally was about what movie or show to turn on next. Because Clint had seen nearly all of the movies or didn't like the premise of the rest, he let Steve choose a lot. Even if Steve didn't always pay attention to the full thing. To be honest, neither did Clint. He tended to fall asleep at least halfway through.

Bruce and Pepper worked on caring for Clint. Pepper brought Clint foods like chicken noodle soup, just regular chicken soup, some toast and juices. Clint appreciated the variation and told her as much which made her smile. But no matter what the CEO brought, Clint still vomited it up. And whatever staying in his system was vacated with diarrhea. Bruce dealt with medications and getting blood samples. He and JARVIS had been concerned with Clint's rising temperature. On a good day, it was 99.8 or so. A bad day had it go up to 101.3. Clint was just thankful that S.H.I.E.L.D said they didn't want him back until he was 102.5 or if it stays over 101 for more then 24 hours.

Natasha was beside Clint's body the whole time. She slept in the fold out couch with him, watched the movies with him, tried to help him hold in his meals, and even just cuddled against him for comfort. Clint seemed to enjoy it all. But most were surprised to see that Natasha looked to enjoy it more. No one mentioned it to her of course, but they did mention it to Clint. And in his daze, he admitted that whenever Natasha was sick, he'd cuddle with her until she got better.

On the morning of the fourth day, everyone was enjoying their breakfast. Because it was a Sunday, Pepper went all out. They had double chocolate chip pancakes, cinnamon swirl toast (which Clint devoured), french toast, and strawberry covered waffles. There was also loads of bacon, sausage and all type of variations of eggs. Drinks included of course coffee, milk, orange juice, apple juice and even some ginger ale for Clint. Ten minutes into the meal, Clint fled the room and they all heard the bathroom door slam shut.

"Jesus. He still hasn't stopped," Tony moaned, dropping his slice of bacon back down onto his plate. He was beginning to loose his appetite. Everyone gave him a discouraged look. Tony just frowned at them. "I'm never sick for this long."

"S.H.I.E.L.D and I are having issues diagnosing him. There are just too many contradicting symptoms. The main one being his constant vomiting. But he has complained of a sore throat that stays even if he hasn't vomited in a long time. Sometimes I've noticed his balance is thrown off. He's got that deep cough and a rash on his throat. I think at one point there was complaints of an ear ache, but I haven't heard about that in a bit," Bruce admitted. Natasha nodded with the doc's words. Clint had been complaining about the same things to her. But lately, she has noticed that he has been pushing himself into a more seated position on the couch.

"Yeah, I noticed that he can't seem to look down. And he's been rubbing the back of his neck a lot," Steve added to Natasha's own admission. Bruce nodded, adding that to the already large list of symptoms.

"If he didn't have the throat and ear problem, I might say he had a really bad case of the flu. And his throat issue looks a lot similar to strep," Bruce started to explain but stopped when Tony began choking on his coffee.

"Isn't strep contagious?" Pepper questioned. Bruce frowned but nodded. Steve looked slightly panicked at that news.

"Is it dangerous?" he asked. Bruce groaned.

"Not really. But, he would have been contagious before even getting sick. So already we have the germs. There isn't much we can do," Bruce mentioned. The group frowned. "Look, if you guys caught it, then you would already be sick by now. I put him on some antibiotics for strep. And he has been complaining less but I think the vomiting it making it hard to completely cure."

"Okay. That covers the fever, vomiting, cough, and throat. What about his ears and the whole looking down?" Natasha inquired. Bruce sighed.

"Uh, ear infection which I didn't treat... And that can easily turn into meningitis," Bruce explained. Natasha's eyes widened in shock.

"Isn't that deadly?" she called. Bruce grunted as he tried to remember back to his training. After a moment, he gave her a saddened look.

"I'm not an actual doctor. You all know this right? I mean, yeah I did some medical treatment in come of the areas I visited but I don't have all the knowledge. Most of what I know is looking up on the web," Bruce told the group. Everyone nodded. They knew it was true but as the only one with any real knowledge, they trusted him. It was as this point that Clint slowly wondered back into the room and promptly sat back in his chair.

"Better now?" Tony sarcastically mocked. Clint just leveled a glare on him. It said all that he wanted to say to the billionaire. Tony shrugged it off just as the Avengers Alarm began blaring. "Are you fucking me right now?"

"Sir, Director Fury claims that there are six foot salamanders invading Times Square," JARVIS explained to the group. As one, they all sighed and began getting up. Pepper stayed seated as she watched the Avengers all stand. Her mind took a minute to catch up with her seeing Clint also getting up and getting ready to go. But when it did, she stood.

"SIT BACK DOWN!" she yelled. The Avengers froze, unsure what to do. But when they noticed the CEO was glaring heavily at Clint, a few began to continue getting ready. Clint winced under her gaze.

"What?" he whined as though he wasn't dangerously sick. Pepper's eyes narrowed.

"You will either sit back down right now, or I'll have Steve tie you to a chair," she threatened. Clint grimaced as he looked to the Captain. Steve gave him a small smirk before exiting the room. That smirk showed that he'd easily be willing to help leave Clint behind.

"Uh, isn't there a board meeting?" Tony randomly reminded the angry woman. Pepper stopped glaring at Clint just long enough to be surprised that Tony remembered and then groan.

"Yes," she moaned. Tony smirked. Bruce and Pepper on the other hand frowned. At that point, Natasha returned and understood what was going on. Pepper had told her only a few days before hand about the meeting, so Natasha knew.

"Can we trust you not to do anything stupid?" the Russian asked. Clint looked back at her with a soft smile. Natasha's eyes narrowed as she tried to judge what Clint was saying. Then she realized who she was talking to. "The Helicarrier. We can drop him off in Medical on the way."

"Wait, isn't the Helicarrier on the other side of the world?" Tony questioned. Natasha went to answer, but Bruce beat her.

"Actually, since Clint has come back to the Tower, Fury has left the carrier around New York. Just in case we needed to drop Clint off for whatever reason. He wanted there to be no delay," the doc explained. Tony frowned.

"Why was I not told this?"

"Wasn't important," Clint answered for the others. He then turned back to Natasha and Bruce. "I won't follow! I'll stay here, please!"

"And what happens if you pass out? JARVIS can track you ailments but he can't help if something dire happens. You need someone watching you," Bruce countered. Clint frowned and mumbled something like 'I'm not a kid.' To which Bruce retorted. "Then stop acting like one."

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**That seemed to go really quick. What do you think? Please don't forget to review, favorite or follow!**


	6. Hallucinating

**I had wanted to post this on Friday, but wasn't sending me my e-mails saying when someone posted a new chapter, or reviewed, or anything else and so I panicked. I didn't want anyone to miss a chapter, so Friday I did post chapter 5. Make sure you read that before reading this.**

**Anyways, I know a lot of you were waiting for this chapter. I hope you all enjoy the ending of it! ^_^**

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It took about another half hour of each and every Avenger making their arguments as to why Clint needed to go to the Helicarrier. In the end, a video feed phone call from Fury was what ended the whole fight. Fury ordered the sick agent to be dropped off on the Helicarrier as the others headed off to the fight. So, begrudgingly, Clint allowed himself to be dropped off. Course when he was told to go to Medical. Well, he was told and not ordered. So, Clint began wandering around the carrier.

Now normally, Clint would take to the vents and go to certain areas of the carrier. But, everyone's arguments about him passing out or other such nonsense did make him worry. God forbid he was locked away in a tight corner of the vents, where no one normally traveled, and he passed out. So, he took to the halls and kept on getting strange looks from other agents. Many were just curious as to why he was in the hall but a few still gave him a wary or angry gaze. Though it had been over a year and a half, there were a lot of agents that remembered that Clint started on Loki's side. Even if it wasn't his choice.

And with a year and a half gone, Clint was slowly mostly over the idea that many of his friends and fellow agents either died by his hand or because he had attacked the Helicarrier. Nearly all of the funerals were over. But there was one that Director Fury was delaying as long as possible. He claimed that it was because he wanted that funeral to be last. But whenever it got scheduled, Fury would send either Natasha or Clint away. Both of whom had already demanded to be there for this funeral and Fury had agreed. So, Clint suffered. He had no where to say goodbye to his friend, mentor, handler and almost brother. Phil Coulson was not yet buried.

"Barton? What are you doing here?" a familiar voice called. Clint looked up to the person. It was Maria Hill. Giving her a light smile, Clint tilted his head with a mock play tone.

"I am an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Even if I am on medical leave," Clint retorted. Hill snorted.

"Not what I mean. Bruce warned that you may have meningitis. That is contagious. He also mentioned a possibility of strep throat," Hill muttered. Clint nodded, having heard the diagnosis before. He ignored it then and will ignore it now.

"Well then," Clint began before leaning forward and doing an exaggerated cough. Hill grimaced and leaned away from the sick archer. All Clint could do was smile at her. Finally, rolling her eyes, Hill shook her head and turned to walk away. Clint's smile dropped as he watched her begin to leave. "Really? Not going to argue that I need to be in Medical?"

"I could use some time off," Hill responded as she continued down the hall, not a care in the world. Clint snorted, now more pleases with himself then before. It was then, that Hill gave him an idea. He was normally always a practical joker, so why not do that? Why not go around the carrier acting more like the diseased 'dead' man?

So, off he went to go find some props to use. His first stop was Medical. There he grabbed some bandages, a patient gown, an IV needle, some tape and surprisingly, some tissues. Once done there, he headed toward his old room which Fury left active as a just in case. Hidden away, Clint began to wrap the bandages around his head, his right arm and left leg. Then he added the IV needle to the back of his left hand and taped it down like so many nurses had done to him before. Following that, he dressed in the gown. Looking in the mirror of his room, he felt like it wasn't enough. Turning about, Clint remembered his make-up kit.

One of the perks of being a spy is that you get make-up kits that are filled with all sorts of tools. Another perk of being Clint is that not only is he a spy, but he was a carny (or circus performer depending on how you want to look at it). That meant he had done day after day of make-up application to not only himself but to a few others as well. Which, made him rather a professional now-a-days. Hell, Natasha had been known to ask him for help when she needed to apply make-up. So, Clint got to work.

By the time he was done, he looked like a dying zombie like man. His face was flushed from not only a heavy blush but also from his fever, which he could feel was rising. The bandages on his head was wrapped in such a way that it looked like he was missing his right ear and his hair was stuck up in multiple directions. His right arm was wrapped from his wrist to his elbow and there was a painted scar running up the rest of his arm. He also increased the redness around the IV insertion point, as though he was either infected or allergic to what Medical had given him. And lastly, his left leg was bandaged up from the ankle to midway up the thigh.

Pleased with his work, Clint limped over toward his door and headed out into the hall. Not a second later, an intern ran screaming in the opposite direction. Happier then he had been all week, Clint went to work scaring as many people as he could. If they didn't notice him right away, he'd moan and groan until they turned. After that, it was normally a similar pattern. Some panicked and ran off. Others froze. A few, mostly women, passed out. But many, who were used to Clint's pranks, paused before laughing at him.

"Really man? Is that supposed to scare me?" one brazen agent asked. Clint, not knowing the agent's name, smirked.

"Haven't you heard? I'm contagious," he threatened and was satisfied with the agent's paling face. Laughing, Clint continued on and missed what happened next.

"Agent Sanchez?" a once familiar voice called to the frozen, pale agent. Sanchez turned to look at who was calling him. Seeing the person, he quickly stood straighter and glanced back down the hall to make sure Clint was indeed gone. Noticing that the archer has moved on, Sanchez replied.

"Agent Coulson. Agent Barton is wandering around acting like a zombie," the younger agent answered even though he hadn't been fully asked. Coulson smiled lightly, having missed the familiar antics of his once asset. Nodding, Coulson went to turn back down the hall he came from, but Sanchez wasn't done yet. "Sir, he looks really bad besides."

"What do you mean?" Coulson questioned, turning back around to face the young man. Sanchez gulped, feeling rather nervous now that he had the older agent's full attention. He looked back toward the hall that Clint had walked down. Almost as if he wished the other agent would return. Noting that Sanchez was stalling, Coulson cleared his throat.

"Has no one told you?" Coulson tilted his head to the side, waiting to see if Sanchez would add to the statement. But still, the young agent stalled. Sighing, Coulson spoke.

"Told me what?"

"Uh. Barton has been sick for the past week or so. Medical and Banner have no idea what he has," Sanchez reported. Coulson frowned and looked down the path that Sanchez had glanced down so many times. Now he was worried. Clint is well known for not relaxing even if he was ill. Hell, there were times that Clint would arrive at a rendezvous point after a mission and he'd either be injured or looking rather ill.

"Is he getting better?" Sanchez shifted in nervousness. He really didn't want to be the one telling the older agent about his previous asset's health.

"Uh. Well, not that I have heard. Banner actually just reported that Barton may have a mixed illness. There was mention of not only the flu but also strep throat and meningitis," Sanchez explained. Coulson's eyes narrowed before he nodded and headed down the hall that Clint had vanished down. Even though the archer had a huge head start, Coulson figured he'd catch up sooner rather then later. "Sir!"

"Hmm?"

"Well, uh. The Avengers don't know you survived. Fury hasn't informed them," Sanchez reminded the older agent. Coulson groaned, having had that been mentioned to him so many times since he had woken. Fury was the first one to inform him that the Avengers believed him dead. Hill was the main focus for reminding him. And Sitwell, the Avenger's handler, had to keep him calm during times when the Avengers got injured or captured. It was just so hard for Coulson to leave the group alone.

"I remember," he retorted before continuing after Clint. Sanchez sighed deeply. Not knowing what else to do, the young agent headed off toward the control room. He could only pray that Hill was there and he could report what was going on.

Meanwhile, Clint had been off scaring more and more agents, interns and other S.H.I.E.L.D personal. He had been having so much fun that he wasn't paying attention to how he was feeling. The pain meds that Bruce had given him that morning were wearing off. His head was pounding so bad, his throat was dry and on fire, and he was having a hard time moving his neck. Not only was all that bad but he was feeling dizzy and his legs felt like he had run at least three marathons.

Pausing to take a break, Clint leaned up against a wall. Resting there, Clint felt slightly better. But his stomach was beginning to cramp and it almost felt like he was going to vomit. Moaning, Clint pushed away from the wall and almost face planted against the other wall across the hall. But someone caught him. Groaning, Clint looked up.

"Whoa there. Calm down. It's okay," a once familiar voice told the archer. Clint frowned and focused more on the person holding him. Through slightly blurred vision, he noticed him. Jerking back, Clint crashed into the wall he had been leaning against. His breathing came fast and hard now as he stared at the man before him. A smile spread across the other man's face. "And here I thought that I should be scared of you. All zombie-fied."

"Coul... Coulson?" Clint slurred out. The man's smile softened before he reached for Clint again.

"Come on, let's get you to medical," he answered. Clint jerked away again but lost his balance and promptly fell down onto his butt. His face was more flushed then before and he felt like he was freezing. But his head was hurting so bad and he was so dizzy. His breathing still had yet to calm down.

"Coulson? You... You can't be..." Clint gasped as he began trying to move away from the once dead agent before him. At this, Coulson frowned.

"Listen, Clint. You need to calm down," Coulson began but stopped when he noticed that speaking made Clint even worse. The archer's eyes widened in fear and his breathing became more rapid to the point that he was almost hyperventilating. Worried about his previous asset, Coulson took a step forward, hoping that skin contact would help calm the archer. Sadly, when he stepped forward, Clint reached out to attack. The older agent was able to quickly catch Clint's hands and held them tight. But as he held them, Coulson realized they were freezing cold. A huge contradiction to the archer's fevered face.

"You're dead!" Clint screeched. Coulson groaned before pulling the archer to his feet. Clint stumbled as he tried to back away but Coulson still had a tight grip on his hands.

"CLINTON FRANCIS BARTON!" Coulson snapped as Clint vainly struggled against the older agent's hold. Clint froze. Now he was certain that it was Coulson standing before him but his body wouldn't calm down. Feeling dizzier then before, Clint tried to shift to lean against a wall again, but Coulson held him still. "You need to calm down."

"Coul-" Clint began before his stomach finally decided that it was dizzy enough and full enough. Everything went all over Coulson's front. At first the older agent was shocked at the spray but when Clint doubled over and continued on the floor, Coulson knew something was wrong.

"Clint?" Coulson worriedly called but Clint couldn't respond. He was still busy vomiting on the floor. It was mostly bile now but still. At least something was coming out. Clint hated dry heaving. But a moment later, both Clint and Coulson feared for the worse. Clint began vomiting up blood. Thankfully Coulson had a radio. "I have a medical emergency outside of room 345 B! Assistance needed now!"

Clint glanced up at Coulson in the middle of his vomiting and groaned. He could only hope that when this was over, the older agent would be by his side. Coulson looked down at Clint's watering eyes. He could see the fear that he wouldn't be there during the time in Medical. All Coulson could so was pray along with Clint. But it didn't last long. Clint did one last vomiting addition of blood before his eyes rolled back into his head and he promptly passed out against his old handler.

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**Haha! Finally we have Coulson in the story! ^_^ Sorry it had taken so long. I wanted to make Clint suffer as long as I could before he came. Anyways, don't forget to review, favorite or follow. My e-mail is working again and my husband would really enjoy double response seeing as last chapter we can't tell what happened. ^_^ Thanks!**


	7. Nope, I Can't Be Simple

**So I'm a little upset with my OB... He originally told me that today, I'd find out if my due date is changing or not. Now he claims that I won't find out for four weeks and it won't be a changing due date. What it would be is if I need a c-section or not. ARGH! So not what I was told before... But at least this means I supposedly have more time to finish this story which is good... Cause I'm six chapters ahead and no where close to the finish. _ **

**Well, thank you for everyone who reviewed! And here is more of the story!**

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Clint woke up about three hours later. Course he didn't realize that at first. All he realized was that he was laying on a firm yet slightly soft mattress, it smelt like antiseptic, and there was a soft beeping in the background masking the soft whispers of conversation. Groaning, Clint opened his eyes and started to look around. Thankfully the lights were dimmed down and so it didn't bother him. Not that there was anything to bother right now. He felt normal for the first time in, what felt like, forever.

"Clint?" came a soft female voice. Clint focused on it and saw Natasha, who was sitting in a chair beside his bed, was watching him. The archer gave her a soft smile, which she returned. "Hey."

"I thought you were on a mission," Clint croaked. Natasha stood then and reached forward to rub the back of her hand against his cheek. Her cool hand felt nice and so he leaned into it.

"I was, two hours ago. You were found in an empty hallway, unconscious," Natasha explained. Clint frowned and looked away. It was then that he noticed the other Avengers in the room. Bruce was standing at the end of his bed, looking over his medical chart. Tony was sitting by the door, just in case Clint began throwing up again. Steve and Thor shared the visiting couch that had been specially made to hold both of their larger forms.

"Your fever spiked and you had a bad case of meningitis, which untreated had created a large amount of swelling in your head. So you dropped unconscious. You are very lucky that we brought you to S.H.I.E.L.D. If you had been alone in the tower there could have been irrepealable damage. As it is, the doctors fear that between the meningitis and the medication used to fix it, there may be some type of brain damage. But, we won't know that for another few days," Bruce mentioned as if Clint really cared about his health at the moment.

"I was found alone?" Clint asked, unsure. Natasha and Bruce frowned, upset that Clint didn't even seem to hear about his health. But his eyes showed something that made Natasha nod in agreement to him. Clint looked away from her in confusion. "I swear that Coulson was there."

The room went still. No one spoke. Not even a single on of them moved. They all just stared at the archer. It took a minute before he looked up and met each one of their faces. Tony had an eyebrow raised, unsure if he should make fun of Clint or not. Bruce looked worried. He was almost certain that Clint had a delusion but he didn't really want to assume. Steve seemed sadden. The guilt of never being able to sign Coulson's Captain America cards still fresh even after all this time. Thor was looking like he was debating how to let Clint know that the older agent was dead. And Natasha had a frown on her face. Clint realized they were all skeptical, but as he thought back on it all, he was certain that Coulson had been there.

"I'm not crazy. I saw Coulson. I'm positive he was there with me. He called medical," Clint mentioned so angrily at the group that they all wondered what to do now. A few of them were afraid that Clint would attack them if they said something. While the others were afraid that Clint had some new mental problem. As Clint focused on the other Avengers once again, his eyes narrowed into slits. "I heard him! I felt him holding me! HE WAS THERE!"

"Clint, we aren't saying that you didn't!" Bruce called, fearful that if Clint gets too upset then he'd endanger himself. No one spoke as they waited to see what Clint would do. Clint patiently waited for someone (Tony) to disagree with Bruce. But when no one did, Clint focused his anger onto Bruce.

"But you don't believe me."

"Clint, I'm sorry. But if Coulson was alive, don't you think that Fury would have told us by now?" Bruce pointed out. Clint frowned and looked away. He had no argument for Bruce and so he decided to stay silent. Figuring that Clint was done talking about it, Bruce moved on. "Look, I talked to Medical and they've agreed with my assessment. Your sickness is not just one bad illness. You actually got hit with multiple illnesses as once."

"Lucky me." Tony snorted in humor. Steve gave the archer a soft smile, knowing very well what it was like getting hit with multiple sicknesses at one time. Thor seemed confused, as a god he barely ever got sick, never mind sick with multiple illnesses. Natasha backed away, having not heard what Clint was sick with, she really didn't want to catch anything. Bruce didn't even seem to notice the sarcasm as he continued to state what Clint was afflicted with.

"You started out with a simple flu but had added strep throat and possibly an ear infection. The ear infection cleared up on it's own but that was what created the meningitis. Now, I had assumed you had strep throat so I've been giving you some antibiotics for that and so it's pretty much gone. The flu has been running it's course but the antibiotics for the strep throat helped stopped it from getting worse. You are now on some meds for that. Our biggest worry is definitely the meningitis. That is a very deadly disease that has gotten slowly worse as I didn't treat it. The whole disease was slowed, again thanks to the other medication you were on. But now you are on the correct meds and should be okay to leave here later today. Course, JARVIS and I will watch over you much more then before as a just in case," Bruce explained. Clint blankly nodded, not too concerned with what Bruce was talking about. Bruce, seeing that Clint wasn't really paying attention, sighed before looking at the others. "We should go get some food and rest. Besides, Clint could use the rest as well."

Everyone agreed and within minutes it was just Clint and Natasha left in the room. Clint, who had been mostly ignoring his visitors, took an extra five minutes before he noticed that Natasha had stayed. She had retaken her seat beside his bed and had just been staring at him, waiting. Now that he was focused on her, she smiled softly but he spoke first.

"I thought Bruce said you needed food and rest."

"I stole a granola bar before coming in here and have been pretty much resting. I don't need to sleep right now. Besides, I want to make sure you won't try and escape Medical right now," Natasha retorted. Clint frowned but nodded. He knew that if he had indeed been left alone, he'd have run off. Hell, he'd have been venturing around the Helicarrier looking for Coulson if Natasha wasn't watching him. Clint relaxed into the bed.

"I hate how well you know me some times." Natasha snorted.

"No, you don't. Besides, I don't think you understand the implications of what Bruce was saying. You are technically dying right now." Clint raised an eyebrow. He didn't think he missed Bruce's long winded speech that much. How could he have missed the fact that he was dying. "You have meningitis. It's swelling around the brain stem. If you weren't on meds for other things, you could have died a few days ago without us even really knowing."

"Hmm. That sucks," Clint muttered, trying really hard to not think about it. Natasha rolled her eyes and gripped Clint's hand. He slowly looked down at their joined hands before following her arm up to her shoulder and then to her face. She was giving him a soft sympathetic gaze.

"You'll be okay as long as you rest and take your medication." Clint sighed.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

After that the two feel into a peaceful silence. About ten minutes later, Clint felt himself drifting off. When he tried to fight and stay awake, Natasha slipped into the bed beside him and whispered some soft words that forced him to give in. He was out of it three seconds before Bruce came back to see Natasha curled up around the archer. The doc gave her a soft smile and a nod before turning and leaving the two partners in peace. Natasha feel asleep about seven minutes later. Less then a minute after that, Coulson stepped into the room.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered to the duo. They surprisingly slept on. He smiled at that. It showed how much they trusted him that he could visit them while the slept and they didn't stir. For a moment he was proud of all the work he went through to gain their trust but then he remembered. He was dead to them. Coulson didn't exist in their world now. The only ones they had to trust now were each other.

Silently, Coulson moved over to them and gently rubbed Clint's cheek and Natasha's left arm. Clint shifted to press harder against the agent's hand but otherwise they didn't stir. Coulson had been with Clint all the way up until Fury called down and told him the Avengers had arrived. He hadn't wanted to leave the younger agent alone for even a moment but... Fury had already told Coulson that he'd be fired or even worse if any more of them saw him.

"You're lucky I know the others have already headed to Stark Tower," came Fury's voice from the door. Coulson froze when Natasha shifted and moaned slightly at the noise but she calmed quickly. The once dead agent spun and gave his director a dark glare before storming out of the room. Once in the hall, Coulson closed the door. Fury's gaze was focused on him.

"You could have just made that even worse," Coulson told the director. Fury glanced back at the room. Seeing that neither agent seemed fazed, Fury couldn't really see the issue and just assumed that Coulson was mad at him for lying to the Avengers. Rolling his eyes, the director looked back at his old friend.

"They are still asleep," Fury needlessly pointed out. Coulson sighed.

"And if you had woken them? Would I have been the one to get in trouble?"

"You were the dead idiot in the room with them," Fury mentioned with a small smile. Coulson snorted, figuring it was always going to be his fault when it came to the Avengers. Even if it was something stupid like say, Tony uploaded JARVIS to the Helicarrier mainframe and the AI alerted the genius to Coulson's presence. Fury would say that Coulson should have know and shouldn't have been on the Helicarrier.

"I still don't see why they can't know," Coulson said, changing the subject to a time old argument that they have been having. Fury groaned before turning and walking away. He almost expected that Coulson would follow. And after a moment, Coulson did just that.

"I'm already on uneasy ground with most of them. Stark can quit at any point. Hell, he still isn't even qualified for the Avenger Initiative. Banner is only around because Stark and Rogers have taken a liking to him. Hell, even Romanoff and Barton are stuck in the Initiative because of Manhattan."

"I thought Cli- Barton was always part of the Initiative? Even Banner was considered if he'd be willing. And from what I hear, he seems to be rather willing," Coulson responded, sounding confused. When he tried to say Clint's first name, Fury leveled a glare on the agent and Coulson quickly fixed it.

"Barton doesn't know. And Banner... If he finds out that we wanted him for the whole project, he'll run. So, I'm letting them assume that only Rogers and Stark were considered. But Romanoff... I'm partly surprised that she's still going along with it. The Black Widow was already widely known and that never seemed to hinder her before."

"So you think that if they see that I'm alive it will dissolve them?"

"Not dissolve them. But... Stark is already impossible to control. Imagine if he learned about my lie? He'd fight to take the Initiative away. And depending on how the others take it, they may follow," Fury explained. When Coulson frowned in disbelief, Fury sighed. He focused more on the other agent. "They've been through a lot as a group. And most of it focused around your passing. If they find out that you weren't dead many of them will feel betrayed. Barton and Rogers being the main two. I can't lose this group."

"Is the council still on your ass?" Coulson asked. Fury stopped walking now. He sighed once again and looked up to the ceiling as though he was praying. Coulson paused and waited for an answer.

"The Council doesn't just want my ass. Ross has been begging to get at Banner. I've had to try to come up with random reasons as to why Hammer has to stay in jail. Some of the Council still wants to throw Barton in jail or even put him back on death row. Romanoff is one mission failure away from being called a traitor again. Never mind the fact that the Council wants Thor locked down every time he appears on earth."

"Ah." Fury looked back down at Coulson with a slightly confused expression.

"That's all you have to say?" Couson shrugged. Fury snorted before the two began walking again. "If I lose the Avengers, Hill will take my job. And you know that she already doesn't like Stark, Barton and Banner. Never mind the fact that she even mentioned at one point about reopening the super solider program."

"So, me being kept from the Avengers is what stops all that from happening?" Fury glanced over at the agent. Coulson wasn't focused on Fury at all. He seemed to be off in his own world. Sighing, Fury brought his friend back into the conversation.

"Lets hope so."

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**And that chapter is over! Hope everyone is still liking this! ^_^ Don't forget to review, favorite and follow! My husband has been stressed at work and has really been looking forward to reading what everyone did! Sadly he's at work as I post so he can't steal my phone, but he loves all the shout-outs!**

**Until next time!**


	8. Proving Coulson is Real

**No new news... waiting on the baby being born and that's about it... So I guess, here is the next chapter.**

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It was the next day when Medical released Clint back into the Avengers care. For a few hours, Bruce, Tony and Natasha were worried that Medical wouldn't release the archer. They blamed Bruce for not realizing Clint's medical condition before hand. But when Natasha mentioned that Clint was going to start trying to escape or just generally being an ass, Medical was good to let him go. But, they gave JARVIS a new command that stated if anything seemed to change, anything at all, they would be alerted and if need be, JARVIS would allow them into the tower to get to Clint. Tony was the only one who hated this idea, but he was quickly out-voted for the need.

So now the Avengers were on their way back to the Tower. Clint still was vomiting up whatever he was given. Even if it was just as simple as water, a few minutes after drinking, up it would come. Bruce mentioned that his body was rejecting everything because of how sick he really is. Still, that news didn't make anyone feel any better about the whole thing.

It took only thirty minutes to arrive and when they did, Pepper was waiting for them. She gave the archer a soft smile when she noticed him but he didn't respond in kind. Natasha noticed such, and began to get more worried about Clint's mental state. He had briefly complained about some loud ringing in his ears, but no one really was that concerned. But now, Natasha wondered if maybe she should take into consideration everything he mentions, including the appearance of Coulson.

"I cleaned the living room up a little and so it's ready for you," Pepper declared when Clint was about to walk past her. The other Avengers stoped and waited for him to say anything. Clint nodded but seemed displeased. After a second, he sighed.

"Actually, I think I want to hang in my room for now. Thanks," he muttered before continuing on by himself. Everyone watched as he headed to the elevator and once he disappeared inside, Pepper looked back to the group.

"What happened at S.H.I.E.L.D?" she asked. The group traded looks, trying to figure out who was going to be the one who answered the CEO. Pepper's gaze landed on Steve, deciding for them.

"Clint claims he saw Coulson," Steve admitted softly. Pepper gasped, hope lighting her eyes but Steve shook his head. "Medical says that his fever was spiking and two of his illnesses both can have delusions."

"So, you think he didn't see Coulson?" Pepper questioned, sounding just as crushed as all the Avengers felt.

"It's not that. We believe he saw Coulson. It's just... We can't actually believe that Coulson was really there," Bruce explained. Pepper nodded, understanding the difference. But it was still upsetting to hear. It was even more upsetting when Pepper realized how close Clint must have been with Coulson to now want complete and utter privacy.

"I'm gonna go check on him," Natasha stated but before she could pass the CEO, Pepper caught her and shook her head. Natasha frowned. "He needs to be watched."

"JARVIS can watch him. Just... Give him some space for now. At least an hour," she softly told the other woman. Natasha mentally snarled but nodded in agreement. Pepper then looked to the rest of the group. "The same goes for all of you. Just leave him be unless JARVIS says otherwise."

Meanwhile, Clint arrived at his room and entered it quickly before spinning around and locking the door. Backing away from the door, he waited for the knocking of someone wanting to come in. After a minute or two of nothing, Clint began to believe that maybe they would leave him alone. Pleased, he turned and headed toward the living room area of his apartment. There, he sat down at the small corner desk and turned on his computer.

"Agent Barton, is there something I may help you find?" JARVIS called into the room when the computer fully loaded. Clint looked up toward the ceiling for a moment, as if thinking about it but he didn't respond. All he could think was that the other Avengers were using JARVIS to spy on him. And what he was about to do was... Well, illegal. "Agent Barton, if you do nat answer I will assume you are unconscious and will call S.H.I.E.L.D Medical."

"I'm fine JARVIS," Clint quickly retorted. As he stated this, Clint loaded up a program similar to what Tony used before to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D's mainframe. Having some slight memories of the hacking arrow from the Manhattan attack, Clint began working on changing and updating the program to focus on what he wanted. Silently, in the background, JARVIS slipped into Clint's computer and watched the code that the archer was typing in. Every once in a while, he'd change a small piece of code to make sure that the program wouldn't damage S.H.I.E.L.D's systems. Clint barely noticed at first, but then after just finishing typing a line, JARVIS changed it. The archer froze.

"That code would have damaged the security in the prison cells and could potentially release all prisoners. Would you like my help?" JARVIS inquired when he noticed that Clint had stopped working. Clint jerked away from the computer but then got wicked dizzy and promptly dropped onto his ass. "Agent Barton?"

"How did you? Why did you? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Clint cried, as he slowly got back to his feet. JARVIS took a minute to respond as he registered all of Clint's questions.

"Sir has given me the ability to join any system that is connected to the Tower's. I did so to see what you were doing. And I am making small changes to your code in hope that together, we will not damage any of S.H.I.E.L.D's systems when you send the program. But, I am still unsure what you are looking for and am offering help," JARVIS intoned as though it was obvious. Clint sighed deeply as he relaxed. He had feared that Tony had JARVIS hacking into his computer to steal information or watch Clint. Hell, sometimes knowing that the AI is everywhere in the Tower made the agent nervous.

"Will you tell the others what we are doing?"

"Sir has made mention before that I am never to tell anyone when I am hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D unless I am ordered to by Sir himself. I can add to this by saying that when I am helping you, you must order me to tell someone about it and Sir cannot override it," JARVIS mentioned. Clint smiled.

"Sure."

"So, Agent Barton, what am I looking for?"

"Uh, the camera footage around where and when I was found by medical. I want to see if... Well, if Coulson was actually there," Clint admitted. Once he finished speaking, his computer screen began to quickly fill up with codes and Clint even noticed some of the beginning of the codes were changing. It took three more minutes before a video screen popped up and showed an empty hallway. "Uh, do you have to do forward or back?"

"Forward. I chose five minutes before medical found you," JARVIS answered before the video began speeding up. A second later, Clint (dressed as his zombie form which was cleaned in Medical) appeared. It stopped speeding by and slowed to show zombie Clint lean back against the wall. Clint sat down in the chair and stared at the screen.

"Coulson will show up any second. I know it," Clint declared. JARVIS slowly sped up the video and then returned it to normal when zombie Clint pitched forward before the whole video cut out. "WHAT? JARVIS, what happened?"

"It appears that the video was damaged. I shall play it again from where it picks back up," JARVIS replied. A second later the video showed Clint plastered to the ground and Medical rushing around his prone form. Clint swore and slammed his fists down onto the desk. Growling, he got to his feet and spun around, only to lose his balance and fall.

"SHIT!" Clint cried as he crashed down onto the floor. Thankfully the chair had been pushed far enough away that he didn't hit that and he turned in such a way that he just barley missed clipping the wall behind him. Groaning, Clint simply laid there.

"Agent Barton? Shall I call Doctor Banner?" JARVIS questioned. Clint shook his head lightly before realizing that JARVIS might not see him.

"No. I'm fine," Clint responded before slowly working on getting up. As he did, his stomach decided it wanted to empty itself some more and so Clint reached for the trash bucket near his desk and expelled the bile into it.

"I am reading elevated heart rate, a slightly higher fever and am hearing sounds of vomiting. Are you sure I should not call Doctor Banner or S.H.I.E.L.D medical?" JARVIS once again inquired. Sadly Clint couldn't respond. He was still going at it even though he was now starting to dry heave. "Agent Barton?"

"DON'T!" Clint choked out as soon as he was able to. JARVIS gave off a sound that seemed similar to a groan of protest but as Clint stopped and sat back, he assumed that the AI didn't call anyone. Grumbling in protest, Clint stood and slowly made his way over to his couch. Plopping down, the archer looked angrily back at his computer. "JARVIS?"

"Yes?"

"Is there any way you can try to fix the file? Or... Actually, look through the halls around that area before and after. Follow me during the whole time that I'm dressed like that and keep watching each video for ten minutes after I leave the area. Someone had to send Coulson after me," Clint declared. JARVIS said nothing but Clint noted that his computer screen had yet again filled with codes. Nodding in pleasure, Clint leaned back into the couch and promptly passed out.

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**So, that's done. I'm falling behind on already written chapters again. _ I hope to at least have the whole story written before the baby is born but I can't guarantee that it will be true. But I can at least promise more to the story then I have done now.**

**Anyways, as always please review, favorite or follow! My husband is home today and most of tomorrow morning and hopes to read everything before I get to it. Thanks, as always!**

**Until next time.**


	9. JARVIS Offers Assitance

**Argh! I am so bad! This was supposed to be up yesterday! Sorry about that, gang. But at least it's here now. ^_^**

**As for last chapter in my authors note I got a lot of you worried. I have four more chapters prewritten already and what I meant by the fact that I was falling behind is because I started this story with six chapters prewritten ahead. Exhaustion and needing to prepare for baby Clint has really made it hard to work. Mostly the exhaustion though.**

**As for news on baby Clint. He's still healthy and still inside. I just "dropped" earlier this week, meaning now my stomach points downwards rather than towards my face. This is all on track so I'm about 35 weeks along. That gives around 5 or so more weeks without the baby unless he decides to leave early or late. Heck, because I'm 5'3" and rather obese, I may be forced to have a c-section. But who knows now.**

**Well, enough about me and my baby! Onto the chapter!**

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"Sir! Someone is hacking into the video footage from earlier today!" a random agent cried through the open door of Fury's office. Fury glanced over at his companion, Agent Coulson. He had been warning that if Intel didn't get all the footage of him then someone would find him. Fury assumed it was more then likely Tony but Coulson knew better.

"I warned you that showing yourself to any of them would be dangerous," Fury snapped. Coulson rolled his eyes. He had been hearing that for the past few hours and it was getting a little annoying. But Fury was his boss, so Coulson couldn't say anything.

"Yes, I understand that, sir. But Barton needed someone watching over him. He could have died if I wasn't there," Coulson stated. Fury groaned. He had no idea what to really say to that. It was true that Clint had needed someone watching over him. Hence why the Avengers had dropped the archer off at the Helicarrier. But, did that person have to be Coulson? Fury thought not.

"Someone would have found him sooner or later," he weakly argued. Coulson leveled a gaze on Fury that stated, 'are you sure?' Fury groaned and looked away from his friend. Coulson smirked. The previously 'dead' agent knew he had won this argument. But how long was that going to last until Fury came up with a better excuse, he had no idea. "I'm gonna kill Stark."

"It might not be Stark. Clint is good with computers. I mean, wasn't it proven that he created that hacking arrow?" Coulson pointed out. Fury snorted, unsure if he should actually believe Coulson or not. Then again, Coulson had worked with Clint for nearly all of the archer's time at S.H.I.E.L.D. "And besides, it has been stated that all the Avengers can ask JARVIS for help. Why wouldn't one of the others use the AI to break into S.H.I.E.L.D? I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't Stark or Clint and it was Natasha instead. But it could be Banner."

"Romanoff? I highly doubt that. And there is no way that Banner would hack into S.H.I.E.L.D. He's smarter then that," Fury declared. Coulson raised an eyebrow at the wording that his friend used. Fury paused as he wondered why Coulson was doing such an action. It was then that he realized his wording. Banner was smart, but Tony was a genius and he hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D all the time. Fury leveled a glare at his friend. "You know what I mean."

"I do, but you can't just dismiss them as not doing it just because they have never done it before. Remember, we never thought that Banner would be working with us in any sense. Yet, he is a R&D consultant and a member of the Avengers Initiative," Coulson pointed out. Fury scoffed.

"That doesn't mean that he's hacking us," Fury mentioned. Coulson inclined his head in agreement to that statement but didn't look like he was going to back down. Fury groaned then and sat back. "What if it is Barton?"

"Would that be an issue?" Coulson asked, humor lightly tinting his voice. Fury's eyes rolled before gazing darkly at the agent. It was almost as if he was trying to answer the question with just his eyes. Coulson chuckled. "He isn't that bad, sir."

"Isn't? Isn't that bad? You found him dressed as a fucking zombie! Not that bad, my ass," Fury groaned, sitting back into his chair and looking to the ceiling. Coulson smiled, remembering different incidents with Clint terrorizing the other agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "If he finds out that he actually did see you, he will make my life a living hell."

"And you will deserve it." Fury stiffened before slowly looking back down at his friend. Coulson was giving him a soft smile, one that dared Fury to argue with him. The director moaned and looked back up at the ceiling. "They're going to find out sooner or later. If they've already decided to hack into the video feeds, then they are determined to find out the truth. Intel will never want to go through every bit of feeds to get rid of me. Especially if they are competing against JARVIS."

"Maybe I'll send them on a mission."

"Clint is dying."

"I'll lock him up in medical. You can stay out of medical until they forget that Barton may have seen you, right?" Coulson quirked his head to the side.

"As long as you don't send me on a mission. My new assets aren't as... Prepared as some of my older ones," Coulson stated. Fury sighed before flopping dramatically down onto his desk. There was a grumbling sound that was too muffled to understand that came from him right after. Coulson's eyebrow rose once again. "What was that, sir?"

"Kill me now."

"I thought me being dead was supposed to avoid that."

"You shouldn't have let Barton see you. Now get the fuck out of my office and help Intel."

"Yes, sir," Coulson saluted before standing and walking toward the door. Fury was still flopped over his desk. Glancing back, Coulson smirked and headed out. Once in the hallway, he looked directly into the camera that faced Fury's office. "Don't do anything too drastic, Avenger."

* * *

"Agent Barton, I believe I have found something," JARVIS suddenly called after almost two hours of hacking the S.H.I.E.L.D video files. Clint, who had taken to lazing about his couch after waking up with a sore neck only an hour before, sat up straight in response. His eyes glittered with excitement as he rushed to stand and head over to his desk. Sadly, his illness made his head spin and he almost dropped to the ground. But he did, dry heave for a minute. "I am loading it on screen now."

"Thanks," Clint croaked when he finished and dropped into his office desk chair. The video was actually only taken a few minutes before. Something that Clint wondered about, but JARVIS had been opening up his searching parameters as he went. So now, Clint was looking at the door leading to Director Fury's office. It slowly opened and out stepped the one man that Clint had been searching for. Clint whooped with joy as Coulson looked straight up to the camera. His mouth opened and then the feed cut out to static. "What the fuck just happened?"

"I'm sorry, it seems that the data has been corrupted. I can not get any of it back. There is also footage from two hours before hand that have been erased and all footage from Director Fury's office has been damaged. It seems that they do not want you seeing Agent Coulson," JARVIS informed Clint. The archer groaned. It just wasn't fair. Coulson was alive but other then his word, he had no proof. S.H.I.E.L.D was slowly deleting every trace.

"Can you keep looking? All the way back to since the Manhattan attack?"

"I have already done so. Various feeds have been destroyed or corrupted. There are also some mission files since the attack that I cannot access. A few have included clean-ups from Avengers missions. I am also still following the feeds that are working now but it seems that someone is erasing certain feeds before they can post onto the network."

"Can you find out who?" Clint asked as he sat back into his seat. This was getting so annoying. But with JARVIS on the case, Clint could only hope that someone slipped up soon. As JARVIS answered with an affirmative, Clint could hear a loud buzzing in his ears. Lightly rubbing at them, Clint spoke again. "Do it. I want to know who is getting rid of the video. It has to be important if they're working on it right now."

"Yes, Agent Barton. Also, Agent Romanoff is about to enter your room."

"Shit!" Clint cried as he scrambled to shut off the computer screen and get out of his seat. As he stood and turned, Natasha was already standing at the entry on the other side of the living room. Clint gave her a sheepish smile. "Hey, Nat. What's up?"

"I don't want to know. I'm not going to ask. You better not be doing something illegal. But if you are, don't tell me," Natasha listed. Clint nodded, mentally smirking when she said that he better not be doing something illegal. He technically wasn't, but if she asked, he would have to admit that he was involved. "I came down to let you know that dinner is ready."

"Dinner? What happened to lunch?" Clint called as he thought back to his day. Natasha smiled lightly.

"We ate that when we first got back. But you had come down here to be alone," Natasha retorted. Clint groaned. "Are you even hungry?"

"Not really."

"Well, either way, you can join in conversation," Natasha stated before spinning on her heel and heading to the front door of his apartment. Clint took a step after her but then hesitated. Did he really want to socialize right now? He honestly didn't. Especially if he was going to be sitting there watching everyone else eat. It just seemed wrong.

"Do I have to?"

"JARVIS can't keep watching you," Natasha cried from the hall. Clint moaned and headed after her. His face showed his discomfort which made Natasha frown. She stopped him before he could slip past her and head to the elevator. "Clint, we're worried about you."

"Why? Just cause I'm sick? Or is it cause I saw Coulson?" Clint angrily snapped. Natasha's frown deepened. "Look, I'm not feeling good. Having me around food is probably the worst decision we could all make. And I'm really not in the mood to deal with Stark."

"I'm not in the mood to deal with Stark either."

"Yeah but at least he doesn't get sick when you do," Clint pointed out, boarding on not making sense. Natasha rolled her eyes, understanding what Clint actually meant. Clint frowned though as he realized what he said. "That doesn't sound right. At least he doesn't... No... Still not right."

"I get it. If I get sick of him, he won't get sick as well," Natasha scoffed. Clint nodded with a slight smile on his face. Yup, that was what he meant. She rolled her eyes again, wondering if Clint would stop making excuses. "Since when do you care if your bothering Tony, anyways?"

"It's dis-concerning when he gets sick as well. I don't like knowing that it's my fault," Clint softly admitted. Natasha sighed and slowly walked back over to Clint. He twisted away but before he could walk away, Natasha pulled him into a hug. "I hate being sick."

"I know. Everyone normally does. But if you hang out with the rest of us, it may get your mind off of how crappy your feeling," Natasha suggested. Clint groaned, so not in the mood for this. But before he could finally tell he that he agreed to go up, Bruce, who had appeared just after the hug, cleared his throat.

"Your meds are waiting upstairs," the doc mentioned. Clint frowned as he glanced between Natasha and Bruce. Natasha had an almost innocent expression on. One that pretty much told Clint that she had expected him to not come and made sure Bruce prepared the meds in the kitchen. Bruce looked nervous. Almost as if he feared that Clint was going to snap at him. "And you should actually eat with them. It'd be easier on your stomach."

"You two double teamed me," Clint accused. Natasha smiled while Bruce shifted uncomfortably. Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Clint sighed. "Well, I guess we shouldn't keep the others waiting on us."

"Nope," Natasha agreed and the two headed toward Bruce. The doc nodded, seeing that the assassins would follow, he turned and went to the elevator to set it up. Seconds after, the three headed in, and all the way up to the communal living quarters. There they stepped out into the middle of a fight.

"Leave that be!" Steve was shouting at someone. A loud snort was the retort back. Clint, Natasha and Bruce traded glances before slowly moving toward the kitchen.

"But I'm hungry now," Tony whined as soon as the three began moving. "I don't want to wait for Bird Brain!"

"We aren't eating until everyone is here," Steve snapped as the group rounded the corner. Tony had his back facing them and Steve was focused on Tony's hands so neither one noticed the remaining Avengers enter. Thor and Pepper were patiently waiting at the kitchen table. Thor was watching Tony and Steve in confusion as he normally was the last to arrive for any meal. He had no idea that the two usually fought like this and so was now watching them in interest. Pepper was reading some report from SI so she didn't notice anyone arrived until Bruce sat down beside her. He nodded in greeting, and she did the same before her eyes picked up on Natasha and Clint sitting in their normal seats opposite from her. Clint waved lightly and Pepper smiled as Bruce passed over the waiting pills that had been in front of him.

"We normally eat before Thor gets here, why does that not happen for everyone else?" Tony cried. Steve sighed and gave Thor a quick sympathetic look that the god only frowned at. His eyes missing the newly assembled Avengers as he turned back to Tony. But he did grab a salad bowl and turn as though to move it to the table.

"We don't wait for Thor because he is not always here. Sometimes he's in Asgard. But the rest of us are normally always here, so, it's polite to wait," Steve answered, sounding less angry but more annoyed. Tony rolled his eyes in anger before reaching for a piece of chicken. Steve dropped the bowl onto the table right in front of Tony's seat and turned in time to see Tony grabbing the food item. "Tony!"

"What?" Tony asked as he brought the chicken to his lips. Behind the piece, he hid his smile as he noticed the others were resting at the table. "Everyone's here now."

"Bring it to the table first," Steve exasperatingly called. Tony growled as he chewed on the chicken before he snagged the plate and slowly walked it over. Steve groaned before going back into the kitchen to grab some more food items and in a matter of minutes, the group (except Clint) was eating.

"You really should eat with that medication," Bruce mentioned after a few silent moments as everyone started eating. Clint moaned and looked down at the food that was being offered. He really didn't want to eat but he was surprised to see that a lot of the food was something he favored. Slowly his eyes narrowed and turned to look at Natasha who was busy looking at Steve on her other side and eating her salad.

"Really?" he muttered to her. Natasha looked back to Clint with a look that asked him what he was thinking. Clint tilted his head down to the food. She glanced at the table and then smiled. But she didn't say anything. "How long did it take?"

"Almost as soon as you headed to your room to be alone. Been working on it the whole rest of the time," Natasha finally admitted. Clint rolled his eyes before slowly grabbing his plate and looking about the table. In a matter of moments, he had everything but the salad on his plate.

"Wait, what just happened?" Tony called as he looked back and forth between the assassins. Pepper leaned over and began explaining what happened as Steve, Bruce and Natasha all smirked. Thor was too busy eating and missed the whole thing. "Oh. Well, now that's just stupid."

"You think everything nice is stupid," Steve countered with a soft angered glance. Tony scoffed.

"So not true."

"Tony, when was the last time you didn't think that?"

"Uh-" Tony began but before he could continue, Pepper looked toward Clint.

"So, I heard you may have seen Coulson on the Helicarrier?" she inquired, wanting to get Steve and Tony away from their fight. She just had no idea how bad of a choice she had made until Natasha stilled, Steve paused, Bruce nearly dropped his fork, and Tony gasped lightly. Again, Thor was too busy eating to notice at first but then he slowed and watched the group with a wary eye. "Is something wrong?"

"Other then the fact that everyone thinks I hallucinated it? No. But, I know I didn't and JARVIS helped prove it," Clint declared in the suddenly tense atmosphere. Pepper perked up. She missed Coulson just as much as the others. But the others were now just as interested. If Clint had proof, then they'd be willing to help him find Coulson and beat the crap out of Fury for lying.

"Where is this proof?" Natasha softly asked, unsure if she wanted the answer. Clint frowned and looked down at his food.

"It got deleted." Natasha's eyes narrowed in disbelief. Steve sighed and began eating again. Bruce frowned before also going back to his meal. Thor stopped eating to watch the whole group. Pepper laid her fork down and looked away from Clint in disappointment, while Tony snorted.

"That's cause it didn't exist," Tony snapped, sounding more sarcastic then angry. Clint's eyes darkened as he focused harder on his plate. "Look, Coulson's dead. He wasn't there. You were found by a random S.H.I.E.L.D agent and brought to the medical area just in time. You just imagined what you wanted it to be."

"Coulson was there! Someone is deleting footage from certain areas since the Manhattan incident! Even now, they are deleting footage!" Clint shouted as he jumped to his feet and promptly began swaying. Natasha stood and grabbed his arm but as soon as he was centered again, Clint ripped it away from her. "I know what I saw and talk to JARVIS, he saw some of the footage before it was deleted."

With that, Clint spun on his heel and stormed out of the room without another word. Natasha sent an angry glare at Tony before chasing after Clint. Pepper went to her feet and gave the billionaire a disappointed gaze before cleaning her place. Bruce sighed, dropped his silverware and stood to help Pepper. Not once did he look at Tony. Steve frowned and pushed his plate away from himself before standing and walking into the kitchen area intent on washing the dishes. Thor glanced at Tony but said nothing.

"What?" Tony snarled after a minute of Thor's gaze. Thor looked down at Tony's unfinished plate.

"May I finish your plate?" Thor asked softly. Tony snorted before sliding the plate down toward the god and standing, intent on heading down to his workshop.

"Have at it," he said before walking off. Thor smiled and quickly began digging in, knowing that basically he couldn't do anything to help Clint so he might as well finish all the food.

* * *

**Well? What did you all think? I hope it was good. I can't wait for some of the future chapters. I get really (in my opinion) emotional.**

**Anyways, don't forget to review, favorite and follow! My husband's out right now but at around 4 today he'll be back and more then likely really stressed cause his current retail job has no store manager and they need one to get a lot of stuff done. Reading all your praises, and even some criticisms, really makes him happy.**

**Thanks for reading and pray that I can finish writing a bunch more before the baby comes!**


	10. Natasha's Turn Around

**So nothing new on the baby... I'll find out Wednesday if I'm going for a c-section or gonna try for natural labor. Anyways, thanks for all the reviews. It really cheered my husband up. He's got a busy weekend ahead and so don't I. I have to clean and prepare the house for incoming baby. Hopefully I can keep writing and get further ahead again. I've only got about three chapters already written and now I'm getting to the really hard part for me. But you guys more than likely don't want to read this... So, here is the new chapter!**

* * *

Clint made it to his room just in time to close the door and then have it slam back open as Natasha entered after him. He glanced back at her with an angry snarl but said nothing to her intruding on him. Instead he yanked off his shirt and tossed it to the ground, hoping that him stripping would make her want to leave. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"What the hell was that?" she snapped. Clint paused as his hands fumbled with the button on his shorts.

"What the hell was what?" he growled, spinning around to face her. Natasha frowned, her gaze narrowing as she tried to figure Clint out. "I told you I didn't want to hang out around them. I knew that something like this would happen!"

"You let it happen!" she shouted. Clint barked out in laughter.

"I let- I let it happen? Are you fucking kidding me?" Clint snarled. Natasha growled when Clint stormed forward at her. "Tony started that! But he wasn't the worst person. You, you were worst. You're my partner and you don't even think that I saw Coulson!"

"Cause Coulson's dead. We have to get over that," Natasha stated, her words softening as if it could lessen the blow. Clint's eyes darkened in anger before he scoffed at her.

"Do you remember how many times Fury told me that you had died on a solo mission only for Coulson to tell me minutes later that you were captured?" Clint scowled. Natasha frowned. She had similar situations were Fury had told her that Clint had died on his mission but once the debrief was over, Coulson would tell her that Clint had been captured and the Council wasn't allowing a rescue mission. "Why would it be any different with Coulson?"

"Cause Coulson would have spoken to someone by now," Natasha argued. Clint snorted and rolled his eyes, spinning to walk away from her.

"Unless Fury ordered his silence. Why else would the camera footage be destroyed and some files blacked out? Fury is trying to keep Coulson a secret," Clint said, sounding a bit more calm then before.

"Why?" Natasha questioned as if Clint had the answer. Clint shrugged.

"Could be that the Council ordered it. Or maybe, Fury's afraid we'll all stop fighting if Coulson's alive."

"Stop fighting?"

"As the Avengers. Tony would be the first to go. He already doesn't trust Fury. Then probably Steve, in anger at being lied to. Bruce would leave after that, cause the rest of us can't stop S.H.I.E.L.D from wanting to experiment on him. Thor seems like a loose cannon already. And... I'm not sure I'd be protected if the Avengers disband," Clint admitted, getting softer as he spoke the last sentence. Natasha sighed and walked toward the archer. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his chest.

"Protected from what?" Clint relaxed into Natasha's hold. She dropped her head down on his shoulder.

"The Council." Natasha hummed in confusion. Clint sighed and pulled out of her arms to turn and face her. "The Council wants to throw me in jail for everything I did. Having the Avengers as my current teammates, it makes it hard for them to put blame on me."

"So you're saying the Council still wants to use you as a scapegoat?" Natasha asked. Clint nodded.

"Why do you think Fury hasn't sent me on any solo missions? I'm always going out with you or one of the others."

"I thought it was because of the things that have happened to you since Manhattan," Natasha suggested. Clint gave her a confused look. "When Loki found you and tortured you and when Amora changed you into a Hawk."

"Ah."

"Look, I can't prove that you aren't right. But you can't prove that you are right. So, lets just forget the whole thing," Natasha mentioned. Clint nodded before sighing.

"Do you believe that I saw Coulson? That JARVIS found footage of him?" Clint softly inquired. Natasha frowned and let out a deep breath.

"I don't know. I want to believe you. But, I can't bring myself too. Coulson would have given someone a hint or something by now. He knows how much we're all suffering," Natasha answered. Clint groaned. She had a good point. But he couldn't help but feel like they were missing something. Something really important. "Listen, why don't you get some sleep. Tomorrow I have to go the Helicarrier for a debrief on a new solo mission. When that's done we can search the place for evidence. Okay?"

"Sure," Clint responded. Natasha nodded and gave him a soft smile before turning and leaving. Once alone, Clint groaned. He had been so busy getting upset at everything that he hadn't noticed his headache had returned and the buzzing in his ears was worse. Never mind that now that he was calm, his stomach was gurgling up the meds and the few bites of food that he had eaten. Thankfully he was able to get ready for bed and lay down without his stomach rejecting anything. But as he laid on the mattress, he knew that he wouldn't get any sleep tonight and if he did, it wouldn't be restful.

* * *

It was about 8 in the morning when Natasha lightly rapped on Clint's door. There was a long pause of silence before she knocked harder. This time there was a groan of someone calling out from a different room. Natasha hesitated. The groan didn't sound like the occupant needed help. But it also didn't sound like it should be made by a normal person. After another minute of Clint not coming to the door, Natasha pounded her fist against the door.

"WHAT?" Clint's voice slurred into a shout. Natasha frowned.

"Clint? Do you still want to head to the Helicarrier with me?" Natasha loudly called through the door. This time the door snapped open to a very harried Clint. It looked like he had just woken and had thrown on the same shorts from the day before. He also had no shirt on, so Natasha could see his really flushed features. "You okay?"

"What?" Clint groaned.

"I asked if you were okay?" she repeated. Clint looked down at himself before growling something unintelligible. Natasha's frown deepened but before she could speak, Clint turned around and headed back into his room. Slowly, she followed and watched as he searched for something. When he found the shirt he had abandoned the day before, she disgustingly watched as he sniffed it, shrugged and tossed it on.

"I'm fine. Just due for some meds," Clint finally answered, sounding slightly slurred. Natasha sighed, ignoring how Clint sounded. She just put it up to being sick and tired.

"So you want to go to the Helicarrier with me or hold off?" she asked. Clint looked back at her, trying to remember when he agreed to go to the Helicarrier. It took an extra minute more then it should have because his ears were ringing so bad that it threw off his focus. Never mind the constant headache, but thankfully the meds had taken a lot of the edge off of it. "Clint?"

"I can go. Just need to visit Bruce before we go," Clint commented, again his voice was slurred but this time Natasha worried. He couldn't still be tired. But as she looked the archer over, Natasha saw more then just exhaustion. His eyes were slightly dull and sunken in. That wasn't all though. She was shocked to see him even slumping over and that it looked like he had lost at least ten pounds. His skin was pale and covered in a slick sheen of sweat. Never mind that it looked like his eyes were twitching with every movement and there have been at least three times in the last two minutes that he reached for his ears and fiddled with them.

"You sure you're okay?" Natasha inquired getting a glare in response before Clint headed back to the door of his apartment. Natasha frowned but decided to let it go and followed after him. Five minutes later, the two assassins were standing before Bruce. They had found him in the one lab that Tony had set up for him. It took another two minutes before Clint began shifting his weight and clearing his throat. But Bruce was still slightly lost in whatever he was doing. So finally, Clint sighed, traded a look with Natasha and decided to speak.

"My meds?" Clint said making Bruce looked up from his work. The doc's eyes widened when he saw how close the two were. He had been so distracted that he didn't even know that they had arrived. But then again, they were assassins and what would an assassin be if they weren't silent when they came upon someone.

"Oh! Yeah, I have the pills upstairs," Bruce declared, trying to cover his shock at the duos 'sudden' appearance. Natasha smirked at the doc's reaction but neither her, nor Clint, commented. Instead, they just backed away when Bruce lead them to the door and upstairs. Seven minutes later, the assassins were on their way to the Helicarrier.

* * *

"Agent Coulson, sir, Director Fury has ordered you to your room," an agent called out down the hall of the Helicarrer. Coulson froze in shock. Fury had never ordered something like that. Slowly, he turned to face the agent. It ended up being a new hire, so it was someone he had never met.

"Excuse me?" Coulson asked, praying that this poor soul made a mistake. His temper with the way that Fury had recently been treating him was on the rise and Coulson really didn't want to freak out at the message boy. Then again, when he noticed the agent's eyes narrow in suspicion, Coulson decided that he didn't care.

"Director Fury has ordered that you go to your room and stay there for the next few hours. A guard will be getting you at your door to make sure you follow this order," the agent answered, sounding proud that he was giving the news. Coulson's stance tensed even more but he paused before lashing out. He was getting so pissed now. His hands began clenching and unclenching at his side and he was slowly shaking his head in disbelief. "Shall I inform Director Fury that you will not comply?"

"No, but you can tell him... You know what, forget it," Coulson snapped, so feeling the need to just tell Fury off using the messenger. But at this point he was already in so much trouble for letting Clint see him that he was done with the whole issue. If Fury wanted to make this whole thing out to be bigger than it actually was, Coulson felt he might as well try and make it easier. Spinning on his heel, he began to stalk off down the hall but when he heard matching footsteps, he looked back to see the smirking agent behind him. "What the hell? You gonna escort me to my room?"

"I need to make sure you are complying with the Director's order," the agent said in a very satisfied tone. Coulson had enough. His temper snapped and his fist was slammed into the other agent's face before either of them even realized what had happened. Once Coulson calmed enough to see his fist still thrown out in front of him, the poor agent was down on the ground unconscious and there was beginning to become a small crowd around the two. It took a moment for everyone to realize that the agent was out of it. As they did, Coulson focused on a familiar face, Agent Jasper Sitwell.

"Get him to medical," Coulson ordered his friend before turning around and walking off. The crowd parted for him as he went and surprisingly enough, a small smirk began to appear on Coulson's face. _'So this is what is feels like,'_ Coulson thought to himself as he remembered all the times that Clint or Natasha attacked other agents. While he was normally never there to see the incident, he always had to deal with the backlash so he was prepared for the extra security waiting at his door. "Don't you think this is a bit suspicious?"

"We are under orders to make sure you go into your room. Then we will lock the door and only one of us will stay to make sure you do not leave," one of the men said. Coulson focused on him and the moment he recognized him, the older agent was stunned. The man was the head of Helicarrier security. Fury was really going all out to make sure none of the Avengers ever saw him again. "I'm sorry for doing this Agent Coulson."

"Orders are orders, I understand that," Coulson stated, trying to make it sound like he could care less. But both men knew that Coulson was anything but. He was tense, angry, and about ready to burst again if anyone said the wrong thing. "Do we know how long this will be for?"

"Agent Romanoff is coming for a debrief on a solo mission. She should be gone in an hour or two," came a new voice. Coulson turned and spotted Hill coming down the hall to his room. The older agent frowned but nodded a greeting to her. "I hadn't heard the call saying you made it so I came to see what the problem was."

"The problem was the junior agent Fury sent with the message," Coulson nearly growled at her. Hill nodded, a small smirk on her face.

"Yeah, I heard about that on the way down. You knocked his lights out?"

"He was too smug," Coulson retorted, hearing the head security man snort. Hill's smirk grew into a smile. Coulson, still on edge from this whole issue, narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"It's like your channeling Barton right now," Hill joked. It was perfect. Coulson paused as he thought about what she said and then something in him just popped. He started laughing. All his anger rushed out of his body, his posture relaxed and he was beginning to smile. Hill and the security staff joined in the laughter and for a few moments, they just enjoyed the joke until Coulson tapered off.

"God, I feel like I'm channeling him. I never act like this," Coulson scoffed at himself. Hill nodded. It was true, Coulson was normally so level headed but most of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents had begun to notice that the level headed agent was acting out more and more with each passing day. Almost as if he missed Clint's antics so much that he was acting like Clint just to deal with the backlash afterwords.

"Listen, I know Fury is ordering you in your room, but why don't you just avoid the paths from the landing bay to Fury's office? Cause your right, this does seem really bad. But mind you, if Romanoff sees you, I didn't tell you to walk around," Hill mentioned. Coulson nodded, feeling much more relaxed and a lot better about this whole issue. Avoiding certain paths is much better then being locked up in a room.

"What about me?" the security man asked, praying to god that Hill would give him an out as well.

"I have been channeling Clint a lot today. Why wouldn't I slip out through the vents?" Coulson answered, sounding deadly seriously. Hill and the security team smirked in response. But none of them was completely sure that Coulson was serious. Course when he turned and walked off without another word, the head security member turned to Hill.

"Was he serious?"

* * *

**So? Is Natasha's reactions here a lot better then the other chapter? I know I was mean with them last chapter but, gotta remember, they know that Clint is sick and sometimes it's easier to believe a lie then the truth.**

**Anyways, review, favorite or follow! My husband really wants to read those messages. ^_^ And heck, I've been noticing that when I read the reviews aloud, Baby Clint kicks out. I guess he likes them too. ^_^**

**Until next time!**


	11. Not the Only One

**As of 8-21-13 my husband and I have learned that baby Clint is 9 lbs 1 oz. What does that mean? It means my 5'3" 295 lbs body cannot safely allow baby Clint to go through a natural labor. Especially considering I am only 36 weeks along and should wait at least four more weeks before he comes. And at this point he's gaining close to a pound a week. So, that means I am having a c-section and baby Clint's birth will be set in stone.**

**Baby Clint's birthday will be September 13th, 2013. And for those of you who don't have a calendar before them, this date is a Friday, lol. But considering I first started dating my husband on Oct, Friday the 13th in 2006 and then we got married last year on Oct the 13th, I think that date is very lucky for us.**

**But enough about my new family. Here is the new chapter!**

* * *

Clint was antsy as he waited outside of the meeting room for Natasha to finish her debriefing. He kept shifting his weight and shuffling his feet. But what was really getting to him was the ringing in his ears. It had worsened since leaving the tower and every now and then there was a sharp pop. Something he wasn't used to unless taking off in a regular commercial plane. Rubbing his ears weren't helping and he had already slipped off someone's pen cover to try and clean his ears as if there was a wax build up. Sadly, the pen cover turned up empty. No matter how much he tried to find some wax, nothing came out.

It wasn't that he was complaining but he tended to use his hearing just as much as his sight. Hearing was valuable when trying to infiltrate an enemy complex. Never mind when he used it to spy, wither on a mission or in the Helicarrier. But the worst was just standing here in the hall. Clint couldn't hear someone walking up toward him and was slightly shocked when the person suddenly seemed to appear right next to him as they walked by. Thankfully, he was trained enough to cover his shock but it was unnerving.

"Clint?" Natasha's soft voice called out into the mostly silent hall. Clint nearly jumped but held it in and instead turned to her in a nonchalant manner. By her confused look, Clint began to wonder how long she had been trying to get his attention. Surprisingly, she shook it off and gave him a soft smile. "Where do you want to start?"

"JARVIS mentioned a room on the fourth level that has it's camera permanently destroyed. He assumed that that might be Coulson's new office or even new room. Sides, when was the last time any of us passed by the fourth level?" Clint answered, his words slurring at a few of the letters. Natasha just figured he was tired still. Clint had been leaning against the wall when she first came out and it looked like he had been drifting off. But again she blew it off, praying that the archer would warn her if he needed rest or even if something was wrong.

"Lets go," Natasha said before stalking off. A few seconds later she realized Clint wasn't following her. Slowly, she turned to look back. He was watching her with a large smile. "What?"

"Just, that's really a testament to how little we go to level four. It's faster this way," Clint stated, nodding his head in the opposite direction of her current path. Natasha frowned and tried to think about it. Then she realized that she wanted to avoid that path. Looking to the floor, she tried to remember the reason. Clint seemed to understand cause he walked up to her and placed a had on her shoulder. She faced him. "It's fine if you don't want to go that way."

"It's just..." Natasha began but stopped.

"The memories," Clint mentioned. Natasha nodded. She had the reason now. That path brought them down the walkway where she knocked Clint's head against the handrails to get Loki out of his head. And then it was as she was getting medical to help him that she heard Fury call that Coulson was dead. Yeah, there was no way she was going down that path. "Come on. I know a different way, will take longer but..."

"Yeah, lets go," Natasha whispered before the two took off. Lost in her thoughts, she barely noticed that Clint led her through several different areas around the Helicarrier. Most with happy memories from her time at S.H.I.E.L.D before they finally made it to the area Clint had previously mentioned. No one was there and the door was closed. Natasha looked up to see nearly all the security cameras in the immediate area were either missing or turned off. "They aren't damaged."

"I see that," Clint retorted. Looking toward the camera that was supposed to be stationed right across from the door that JARVIS believed belonged to Coulson. Natasha went a few doors down and looked at one of the cameras that was turned off. There looked to be hot glue or something similar on the power button, making it impossible to ever turn it back on.

"Fury, what are you hiding here?" Natasha muttered to herself. Clint turned to look at Natasha.

"Believe me now?" Natasha focused on him. Her frown was so deep that Clint knew that she didn't. No matter what she said, she couldn't believe that Coulson was alive. Hell, she had attended the funeral. Clint had been a few miles away, trying to not remember the funeral at all. She went to speak but Clint held up his hand and shook his head. Natasha watched as seconds after, he seemed to rapidly blink and hold back a moan. Sighing, she waited. "Forget it. Let's just check the room."

"Sure," Natasha numbly called before heading over to the door. While Clint was good at picking the normal locks, like ones on houses, Natasha was good at electronic locks. It was surprising considering the fact that the Red Room had trained Natasha for the easier locks and didn't really delve into the electronic. But S.H.I.E.L.D showed her how to do it once and she picked it up so well that she only needed the one lesson. Clint was still in training. Seconds later, she had the door open and the two entered into a very bland and nearly empty office.

"Okay, not what I expected," Clint whined. Natasha shook her head and turned to look at Clint. He looked... Crushed. Rolling her eyes, she went over to the cleared off desk and began going through the drawers. "What are you doing?"

"Checking for clues," Natasha snorted. All she came up with was a blank paper and a partly chewed up pencil. "Eww."

"Yeah, come on. We aren't going to find anything here," Clint commented. Natasha sighed but followed Clint back out without a fight. Unsure what to do next, the two just began to wander around, hoping for some type of clue.

* * *

"Agent Coulson!" Hill nearly screamed as she walked in a stiff and formally fast fashion. Coulson slowed his own pace but didn't stop to wait for her. Hill shook her head, frowning, rushing forward until she matched Coulson's pace, step for step. "Agent Coulson, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to avoid Natasha and Clint," Coulson growled. Hill nodded, she had been warned that the other two agents were searching the Helicarrier for something. She figured that after their first visit was Coulson's recently cleared out new office, that the two were looking for their missing handler.

"And by randomly storming around the Helicarrier, you think you can avoid them?" Hill asked. Coulson stopped and stared at her. She also stopped and waited, her face showing the mock expectancy in the answer. Coulson opened his mouth to speak and then realized what Hill was getting out. All the air rushed out of him and he deflated a bit.

"Yes," Coulson hesitantly answered. Hill shook her head as a small smile appeared on her lips. Coulson groaned and turned to walk off but Hill grabbed his arm. "I can't hide in a room. Clint is in contact with JARVIS. They've been following me, everywhere I go."

"Well, you could always leave headquarters," Hill suggested. Coulson leveled a look on her. She frowned, not understanding. "What?"

"That would help if Fury hadn't ordered my codes on lock down. Any path leading to the flight bay is locked off. I can't get there," Coulson explained, knowing that Hill should have known that. Hill nodded, not believing that she could have forgotten for even a second.

"Look, I know we can find a place," Hill began but stopped. Someone was coming down the hall. Coulson stiffened. He could recognize those voices. It was Natasha and Clint.

"Are you sure? You've said that over 100 times now," Natasha complained. Clint scoffed.

"JARVIS said it over 100 times. I've been following him," Clint whined back. Coulson glanced over to Hill. She was staring down the hall that the two voices drifted from.

"Hill? Hiding place?" Coulson softly suggested. Hill looked back at him, her eyes wide in surprise before she nodded.

"Right, my office now," Hill retorted and the two took off. Thankfully they weren't all that far away. Just two rights and a left and they were in the proper hall. Four doors down and Hill got to work on entering her code. She just finished and Coulson slipped inside when Natasha and Clint came barreling around the corner. "What the hell are you two doing, running down the hall like that?"

"Hill!" Natasha called, realizing where they had been running to for the first time. She quickly dropped into a solider's stance and stopped running. Clint stopped running but his breathing was coming way to fast and he was a bit dizzy from the run, so he kind of slouched over to catch his breath. "Uh."

"Well?" Hill ordered, trying to act as if she had no idea that they had been following her or that their prey was currently hiding in her office. Natasha glanced at Clint to see if he was okay and when he nodded, she looked back to Hill. An embarrassed smile covered her face. But she still wasn't answering. Hill raised her eyebrows and shook her head back and forth, a sign that showed she was demanding an answer.

"Thought we saw someone else coming down here," Clint gasped out as he straightened into a regular stance. Hill frowned, trying her damnedest to not give anything away. But Clint's eyes narrowed at her in contemplation. Something she did was giving the archer some type of clue. But Hill was smart enough to not let it bother her.

"Is there anything I could help you with then?" Hill questioned. Clint and Natasha shook their heads. Natasha's gaze refocused on Hill afterwords, but Clint was now focused on her office door. Hill glanced at the archer, saying nothing. If she waited, he would say something. For a sniper, Clint wasn't all that patient. As long as he wasn't staring a target down with his bow or a rifle, Clint was normally edgy, bouncy and always in need of constant motion. After another minute of silence, Hill began to question how healthy the archer was. Yeah, she knew he was still recovering from most of his illnesses. But it all should be gone within the week, thanks to the meds he was on. So, as her mind began to remind her of everything she needed to do for the day, she forced herself to break the silence first. Clearing her throat, she regained Clint's attention. "Then if that's all, I have other business to attend to."

"Sure, go ahead," Clint said before turning around to walk off. Natasha nodded her head before following after him. Hill waited for them to round the corner before she opened her door and entered the room. Clint peaked back around a second later. "Kay. She's in her office."

"You really think Hill distracted us?" Natasha whispered as the two snuck back into the hall and past Hill's office. The hall ended with a left hand turn that the two quickly took and froze. This new hall had a bunch of different turns that Coulson could have taken during their talk with Hill. Natasha glanced at Clint. The archer looked flustered. "Well?"

"JARVIS has no update," Clint answered after a quick glance at his phone. Natasha frowned. She couldn't believe that. But then again, she wondered if maybe the tech guys finally knocked JARVIS out of the system. Either way, they had spent most of the entire day on the Helicarrier. And while Clint had been carrying around bottled water as much as possible, Natasha doesn't remember him eating outside of breakfast that morning.

"We should probably go. I don't think we'll find him," Natasha muttered. Clint glanced at her.

"Do you even believe we had a shot?" Natasha stiffened at Clint's tone. He sounded, not angry. Almost resigned. She focused her gaze on him and saw that he was beginning to disbelieve his own memory. Not once in their entire time working together had she never believed him until now. Natasha couldn't come up with a good reason as to why she didn't. She just couldn't believe that Coulson was alive and had been hidden from them since the attack. And she could see that her beliefs was causing Clint pain.

"I don't know," Natasha responded. Clint nodded, seemingly giving up, before walking back toward Hill's office. But he stopped and turned back when Natasha spoke. "Where are you going?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. I guess..." Clint hesitated. His gaze flickering back toward Hill's hallway. "No, you know what. Forget it."

Natasha watched silently as Clint walked back toward her and just as he was about to pass him, she looked up and froze. Rounding the corner was a familiar face. One she hadn't seen in so lone. A face she thought she'd never see again, even with Clint so admittedly believing he was alive. Slowly, she walked forward when the face turned back the way it had come. Unsure of herself, Natasha pretty much baby stepped all the way to the end of the hall. Just as she was about to round the corner to look, Clint spoke.

"Nat? We going?" he asked. Natasha glanced back at Clint. She almost wanted to admit what she had seen but could she really trust her eyes? Maybe she just wanted to see Coulson because it had been on her mind so much. But then, why did the person go back around the corner? Her gaze shifted back to the other hall. "Nat?"

"Hmm?" she hummed, moving another step forward but still not able to look down the other hall. Clint cleared his throat when she moved and so she turned back to look at him. Her gaze was now questioning. Clint raised an eyebrow.

"You know that's the wrong way, right?" Clint called, his voice soft. Natasha looked back to the other hall for only a second before nodding and walking back over toward Clint. His eyes asking her if she was fine.

"It's nothing, lets go," Natasha answered, walking past him and down the first right. Clint smirked and didn't move. A few seconds later, Natasha reappeared in the hall and walked further down before making a left. "I know where I'm going!"

"Sure you do," Clint laughed before walking off after her. As their voices faded down the hall, the person Natasha saw finally rounded the corner. Coulson looked so relieved that Natasha hadn't seen him. All he could hope was that she'd now convince Clint to stop looking. But as he slowly followed after them, Coulson began to feel really bad. He wanted to see them again. Hell, he wanted Natasha to have seen him. And he certainly wanted Clint to continue trying to find him. He missed them. But as they all arrived at the flight bay and Clint and Natasha loaded into a jet, Coulson couldn't help but feel tears forming in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry."

* * *

**And that's it! Yeah, posted a day earlier because I wanted to share the news at the top and... In more depressing news, my husband's and my bunny Momiji is sick with something. He's really depressed and not eating or even moving right now. We have to force feed him baby food and... Well, I'm afraid he won't last even the week. So please, send your prayers for us. We don't want our bunny to die...**

**Thanks for reading and don't forget to review, favorite or follow. Everything helps to cheer us up in this moment.**

**Update on Momiji: Sadly not more then thirty minutes after I first posted this chapter, Momiji passed away in my husband's hands... I was in such denial over it that we drove nearly 40 minutes away to a vet hospital for them to declare him... We are having him cremated and hope to have his ashes back to us soon.**

**For those who did review, favorite or follow already, thank you sooooooo much. It helped calm my nerves enough to drive down to the vet hospital with little to no tears.**


	12. Wait, what?

**Yeah, I know. I'm a day late. Sorry.**

**Baby Clint and I are doing well. Just sitting back and waiting for the 13th. And I am really trying hard to work on writing more chapters. I'm still about three or four chapters ahead but I want to be further ahead before my c-section.**

**But anyways, here is the chapter!**

* * *

When Natasha and Clint arrived back at the tower, the two were shocked to see Bruce, Steve, Tony and Pepper on the roof waiting for them. Seconds after getting off the quinjet, Bruce was yelling at Natasha for being 'so stupid'. He was pissed that she let Clint wander around the Helicarrier when he really needed to rest. The doc even mentioned that Clint could become even worse because she wasn't thinking. Natasha took the punishment in stride and said not a single word to defend herself. Clint, whenever he tried to speak up for poor Natasha, was silenced by Steve and an angry glare from Bruce.

Steve didn't do much more then shake his head in disappointment when Natasha looked at him. He didn't need to speak, Bruce was saying everything for all of them. Tony seemed pleased to just sit back and watch. As he was normally the one on the receiving end of these screaming fights, he was thoroughly enjoying watching it happen to someone else. Pepper was the worse on Natasha. The other red head couldn't even look at the spy. Hell, her gaze was only on the assassin when Natasha wasn't looking but then when green eyes turned to her, Pepper would look away.

It took over four minutes of Bruce yelling at Natasha before Clint snapped. He was sick and tired of hearing that it was Natasha's fault that he was walking around. That he didn't eat food. And that she should have known better. He was a grown man and even if Natasha tried to force him to do something he didn't want to do, he wouldn't do it.

"SHUT UP!" Clint screamed over Bruce. The doc froze for only a second before rounding onto Clint. His rage was now so intense that his eyes were beginning to glow green.

"Oh! What? This was all your idea?" Bruce snapped. Clint growled and stepped closer to Bruce.

"I asked Natasha for help. Yeah, we got a bit distracted so we didn't eat. Not like I haven't done that before when I was sick. I know what my body can and cannot handle!" Clint retorted. Bruce laughed.

"Yeah and that's why you passed out on a mission!" the doc shouted. Clint grinded his teeth in anger but Bruce beat him to the punch. "Do you even realize how close to dying you came? Medical actually said they almost had to de-fib you! And when we arrived on the Helicarrier, you were hooked up to so many lines that I didn't even know what half of them were for!"

"Bruce," Natasha softly called, almost sounding like she was pleading.

"No, I won't keep silent any more. He deserves to know that he almost died! He deserves to know that when we walked into Medical, the doc on duty was giving him CPR! I'm sick of him thinking he's invincible!" Bruce cried. Clint stilled as he listened and when he felt everyone's gaze on him, he swallowed some saliva, sighed and focused on Bruce.

"I know I'm not invincible. I know I'm the only fucking true human on this team. Why the fuck do you think I work so hard? Why the fuck do you think I hid the fact that I was feeling sick? I didn't want you guys to know! Yeah, I may have let it get too far. I see that now. But what the fuck did you expect me to do? It was a mission. And nearly every time I used to mention I was sick at Carson's, I was told to suck it up and perform or not get paid," Clint began. His voice was low and dangerous now. "I don't want to be kicked off this team. Hell, I'm half afraid that if I am then the Council will fucking throw me in jail! Do any of you realize that this is basically my last option? That if this fails, then I'm screwed? I'm trying my fucking hardest to not seem like a god damned liability here! And yet... You know what, fuck it. I'll just go fucking pack up now."

With that, Clint stormed off. He made it threw the door and four steps down the stairs before the dizziness hit him hard. All that adrenaline was released in one big breath and now he was tired and was having a hard time staying up. His right arm reached out for the handrail that he knew was there but when it meet nothing but arm, Clint's mind blanked on what to do next. Behind him he distantly heard someone open the door, but he was dropping now.

Pepper, who had been listening to the Avengers argue about whose fault it was that Clint felt the way he felt, had finally gotten sick of them not going after the sick archer and decided to go check on him. She left the group still fighting on the roof and opened the door and looked down the stairs, having planned on seeing Clint safely at the bottom. Instead, she saw him four steps down, in the middle of the staircase, his hand just missing the handrail beside him and then him pitching forward and slightly toward the metal railing. All she could do was widen her eyes in shock and gasp as Clint's solid head connected with the railing with a loud crack.

"CLINT!"

Thankfully Pepper's voice echoed through the stairwell and back out onto the roof. And it was also loud enough for the group to overhear. Freezing for half a second, everyone looked at each other before rushing toward the door. Bruce made it there first and slipped through to see Pepper cradling Clint at the end of the stairs. His head was bleeding and he was unconscious. Bruce moaned, knowing that the fight earlier was what had made him weak enough to fall.

"He hit his head!" Pepper whined as she rocked Clint back and forth like a baby. She was crying, hard. Bruce rushed down the stairs as Tony and Steve slipped in. Steve froze, still holding the door open while Tony made it down two steps before understanding what happened and cursing. Natasha came in next.

"Clint!" she gasped out before rushing down the stairs after the doc. He had just about reached Pepper and Clint when he knew that he had to get Clint to a hospital or S.H.I.E.L.D medical. "What happened?"

"I just saw him reaching for the handrail and missing and then he fell. His head hit the railing and then he tumbled down the stairs!" Pepper answered, fearing for the worse. Bruce grabbed both sides of her face and held her head still as she focused her gaze on him.

"I need you to calm down before you hyperventilate. Clint will be fine," Bruce told her. Pepper nodded to the best of her ability and once she was calm, Bruce let go of her. "What stair was he on when he fell?"

"The fourth," she dutifully stated. Bruce cursed at that and then looked back up the stairs to see Steve still frozen.

"Steve! I need you!" Bruce called. Steve shook out of his shock and headed down the stairs so fast that he almost tripped and added to the damage down at the bottom. When he reached Bruce's side, Bruce focused on Tony before looking back at Steve. "Tony, don't let that quinjet leave! Steve, we need to get him back upstairs!"

"Right!" both men answered at the same time. Tony spun back out to the roof, shouting on his way. Steve shifted to get closer to Clint as Pepper relaxed her grip on him. Natasha moved out of the way completely and stood against the far wall as she watched the captain lift the archer up off the ground. In his unconscious state, Clint couldn't hold up parts of himself and so his body just kind of dead flopped in the super soldier's hands. It made Pepper and Natasha gasp as they tried not to cry. Even Bruce and Steve cringed at the sight.

"Lets get him upstairs and on that quinjet," Bruce ordered. Steve nodded and soon the four were off. Outside on the roof, Tony was standing on the quinjet's lowered back. He looked nervous as hell up until he saw the way that Clint's body was slumped around in Steve's arms. The billionaire then went pale. "Tony, get the med area set up!"

"What?" Tony responded before shaking his head and spinning to try and find the small medical area on the jet. As he set it up, Natasha jogged past everyone to head up to the pilot's seat. The two exchanged a few words before the pilot was calling the situation into the Helicarrier. In a matter of a few minutes, Clint was hooked into the medical table. Bruce was working on getting a few odds and ends that he thought could help the injured archer. Steve was sitting in the nearest seat to the two in case he could be of any help. Natasha was sitting just behind the pilot's seat so she could issue any other news and Tony and Pepper were curled up into two seats in the middle of the jet. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know right now," Bruce snapped. "I'm such an idiot! I should have known that getting him into a fight would mess him up!"

"Bruce," Steve warned as he watched the doc tightly gripping some bandages.

"Why the hell would I have fought him? Why did I have to rile him up?" Bruce cursed at himself. Everyone (but Clint) jumped when the doc slammed his hands down on the medical table, just missing Clint's arm. Bruce paused as he tried to simply breath and calm down.

"Bruce, why don't you sit down for a second," Steve softly ordered. Bruce looked to him in surprise before slowly nodding and walking away from Clint. Steve then unbuckled and began to work on wrapping Clint's forehead with the now crushed bandages. It took almost ten minutes before the quinjet made it to the Helicarrier. Once it landed and the doors were lowered, the jet was filled with Medical staff. Five minutes later, the remaining Avengers were running after the staff as they wheeled the archer away from them. But once in medical, the doors got slammed in their faces when he headed to ICU. As the group tried to get over the fact that they were locked out, Hill and Fury rounded the corner.

"What the fuck just happened? I thought you were watching him!" Fury snapped when he saw the lost group. Pepper's makeup was running down her face and stained Tony's white shirt. Tony was still rather pale and seemed to be lost in thought. Bruce was still working on reigning in his temper and so when he heard the Director's voice, he turned and walked off so he wouldn't change there. Steve's eyes narrowed at the words and spun to face Fury but it was Natasha who spoke first.

"He got a little riled up and fell down some stairs," she growled. Fury rolled his eyes.

"Who the hell riled him up?" Fury demanded.

"Bruce... Us..." Natasha said, unsure of the proper answer. Fury frowned and that was when Steve calmed down enough to answer.

"Barton mentioned that he was afraid of getting kicked off the team. He also said that if he was, he'd get thrown in jail. I guess all that emotion and anger that he felt hit a high point and an entire day with no rest, plus still being sick, he dropped," Steve explained. Fury groaned.

"I really had hoped that he wouldn't know what the Council had planned," Fury muttered so softly that most of them almost missed it. Hill's eyes widened in shock at the admittance. She hadn't expected that Clint was in that deep of shit. Pepper gasped in shock, having hoped that Clint was just fearing the worst. Natasha seemed to close in on herself as she processed what the Director said. Steve went slack jawed, unsure how to answer to that. But Tony had that part covered.

"Are you fucking kidding me? After everything he's done, they'd throw him away just like that?" Tony snapped. Fury glanced at the billionaire and winced at the heat in the genius's eyes. "I see what Barton does on a daily basis. There is no god-damned good reason to throw him in jail! They cleared him from the actions under Loki's control!"

"Barton has always been on the Council's shit list. But, never anything more then just shitty assignments," Hill pointed out. Tony growled as Fury nodded in agreement with Hill. It was true, since Clint had gotten hired by S.H.I.E.L.D, the Council hated him. Not many knew the reason why. Hell, Clint didn't even know why. But Fury, Coulson and (to a smaller degree) Hill did.

"Barton may have been cleared for the Loki incident but there are many other times that he... Fucked up. The Council figures that since their already hiring new people, they might as well clean house. And one of those people that they want to get rid of has always been Barton. Already I've found planted evidence that tried to show Barton stealing and selling S.H.I.E.L.D secrets," Fury explained.

"Barton would never do that! He's loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. Hell, I don't think I've even heard him say a negative word about S.H.I.E.L.D. The Council though... There's been a lot about them," Tony mentioned. Fury nodded. He figured that had been the case.

"What can we do to help Barton?" Steve asked. Fury sighed.

"Make this whole Avengers team work," Fury stated as if the group had been doing a bad job so far. Tony and Steve frowned. They had thoughts things were going rather well. Natasha shook her head, knowing that what the Council wanted was something the Avengers could never provide. Bruce returned to the group in time to hear what Fury said and groaned.

"As I said before, we're not a team. We're a time bomb," Bruce growled. Fury nodded.

"I thought the team was working great," Pepper mentioned but when Hill and Fury gave her a look that questioned her opinion, she relented. "I mean, yeah there still is a lot of property damage when they fight. But no more then when the X-Men or Fantastic Four fight."

"The Council was no evidence of any employee at any attack. That way S.H.I.E.L.D can stay secret," Natasha answered for Fury and Hill.

"That's impossible with Hulk on the team," Tony snarled, forgetting that Bruce was standing right next to him.

"Oh yeah, and the Iron Man repulser blasts are so much better," Bruce snorted. Tony nearly jumped at the other scientist's voice.

"Not what I meant," Tony whined. And when he went to continue speaking, Bruce held up his hand and shook his head. He didn't want to discuss it any further. Hell, Bruce had been waiting for the time when someone said Hulk wasn't welcome. He guessed that now was the time and mentally he cursed himself for relaxing into the group. Actually no, he cursed the fact that they made him their doctor. He had assumed that as the Avenger's doc that he was safe, even if Hulk wasn't needed. Apparently, he thought wrong.

"Yeah, we're a wonderful example of teamwork," Natasha sarcastically stated after that. Tony looked slightly embarrassed for a moment as he looked down to the floor. Steve focused on the wall across from him as he tried to figure out where he went wrong. Bruce shook his head, having known from the beginning that this would never work out and so it wasn't a surprise. Pepper moaned, fearing the worst for these people she was beginning to consider her friends.

"Anyways, keep me updated on Barton's status. And think about what it takes to be a team. Barton isn't the only one who'd have issues if the Avengers disband," Fury told the group before nodding and walking off. Hill sighed as she watched the Avengers seemingly sulk in the hall before she gave in.

"I'd start by telling Thor about Barton," she said before she also turned and left. The Avengers looked at each other. In their anger at Clint walking around the Helicarrier all day and then the excitement of seeing the archer injured at the bottom of the stairs, they had forgotten about the god. Natasha, who hadn't been in the tower when Thor left, glanced over at Steve.

"Where is Thor?" she asked.

"He went to visit his woman... What's her name?" Tony answered.

"Jane, I think," Steve responded and then hung his head even lower. "I should know that. He says her name so much."

"We really aren't a good team are we?" Tony softly laughed as he looked to the ceiling. "Hell, I can't even remember her name. Nevermind if we need to get ahold of Point Break. I doubt any of us know where this woman lives."

"New Mexico," Pepper softly called. The Avengers looked at her in surprise. "I talk to him a lot about her. Her name is Jane Foster. She's an astrophysicist."

"How do you know that but I don't?" Tony whined. Pepper tilted her head and gave the billionaire an incredulous look.

"What's your social?" she retorted. Tony narrowed his eyes.

"5," Tony quickly responded. Pepper, Steve, Natasha and Bruce all rolled their eyes.

"I think you're missing a few numbers there," Steve smartly pointed out. Tony smiled.

"Right, the other eight. I'll learn them one day," he swore even though everyone knew he never would. "So, whose gonna call Thor?"

"Actually, I think it might be best if he doesn't know right now," Natasha stated. She shrugged when everyone gave her a curious look. "I know Thor doesn't get to see Jane all that much and there isn't much he could do here. And you know he'd want to wait by Clint's side. We'll let him know later. If there are any problems."

"Sounds good to me," Tony said as he looked to Bruce and Steve. The two men nodded. It did sound good. Thor needed time with Jane just as much as he needed to hang with the Avengers. "So what now?"

"How can we work better as a team?" Natasha inquired, not wanting to beat around the bush.

"Tell us what Fury meant by all of us being in trouble if we disband," Steve commented, sounding almost hurt and upset. Natasha sighed.

"Hill has mentioned that she'd restart the super solider program," Natasha began but Steve scoffed in surprise and turned to walk away. Tony even snorted.

"What the hell does Hill have to do with us disbanding?" Bruce asked. Natasha sighed.

"If the Avengers disband, Fury will be demoted and Hill is next in line for the positon. She's already promised the Council the restarting of the super solider program, with or without your permission, Steve. Fury's also been holding Hammer in jail and has been keeping Ross on a tight leash. The Council has been wanting Thor locked up since New Mexico. Every time he's on Earth, they try to find some reason to hid him away forever. And we already know that Clint is going to get put in jail," Natasha explained. When she paused, she looked to the others. They were staring at her, slack jawed.

"What about you?" Pepper meekly questioned.

"I've been told before that I'm one mission failure away from being called a traitor to S.H.I.E.L.D. Luckily my record at S.H.I.E.L.D has always been immaculate. Yeah, I've had some mess ups, but I always got the target in the end. They've been waiting for the one time that I don't and they'll say that I did it intentionally," Natasha muttered.

"So, we're riding thin ice? When was Fury going to tell us this? Oh wait, this is fucking Fury! He'd never have told us!" Tony cried as he began pacing the small hall. Natasha's eyes flashed in anger.

"And do you see why he wouldn't? Now that you know, are you glad? Or are you worried more then ever?" Natasha pointed out. Tony paused. She made a good point. He was now freaking out a little. "Look. Fury keeps his secrets cause he thinks it'd help. In some way, he's trying to be nice. That's why he keeps those secrets."

"So potentially, if he believed that keeping Coulson's life a secret, he'd let us continue to believe that he'd dead?" Bruce mentioned, beginning to feel like an idiot for telling Clint that he was seeing things. It made sense now that Fury would hide Coulson away from them.

"Why would he hide that from us?" Steve asked, surprised that that was back on the idea board.

"Why not? I've already mentioned that I don't trust Fury as far as I can throw him. Hell, as far as Hulk can throw him. Doesn't surprise me in the least that Fury would think that I'd try to leave the Avengers after that," Tony mumbled. Steve frowned. Pepper shook her head, having been listening to Tony complaining about the Director for nearly every day since the Avengers formed. Bruce groaned and removed his glasses to rub his nose, where the rims settled. Natasha sighed. Then Tony laughed. "Hell, a month ago or so, I'd say that I'd leave S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm already not officially an Avenger... Wasn't 'approved' for the initiative. But I'd ask if you guys would come with me."

"I'd go. Never wanted to be part of S.H.I.E.L.D in the first place. The other guy and I don't normally agree with military personal," Bruce commented. Natasha nodded, having made the same mention to Fury in the past. "Sides, I don't even think I was looked into."

"I woke up only a week before Manhattan. The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D are all I know right now," Steve mentioned. He then sighed. "I would have probably left with you guys as well."

The hall went silent. Then slowly the men looked to Natasha. She gave a laughing sigh before looking away.

"I'm not approved for the Avengers either. Fury has only been allowing me to stay with you guys because of Clint. We've both felt that if I left, Clint would as well. So I've stayed," Natasha explained without any prodding. When she saw the faces of the others, she frowned. "I'm a spy and an assassin. Not a superhero. Never wanted to be a superhero. All I want to do is clean up my ledger before I die. I don't need the Avengers. Never have."

"So, why?" Steve whispered. Natasha shrugged.

"I was pissed off at Loki. Coulson was dead. Clint was fucked up and... I felt like he wouldn't have fought unless I did as well. I just... Just needed to get one punch into Loki to feel better," Natasha described before moving down the hall to sit down. She was almost done with sharing time. But then she remembered the face she had seen earlier. Thinking about what Bruce said and she had pointed out, she began to really rethink the whole thing. First though, she needed to know. "If Coulson was alive and Clint had seen him. What would you all do? Would you stay with S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"Yes," Tony quickly answered. Everyone's gaze snapped onto him in shock. He shrugged. "I get it now. Knowing why Fury kept it secret, changes the meaning of the secret. The old bat was worried for us. That... Oh fuck... I don't think I really had anyone care that much for me outside of Pepper and maybe Rhodey."

"We care about you," Steve told the billionaire very softly. Tony gave him a meek smile.

"I get that now. Look, I know I don't trust well. The last person I trusted outside of Peps, Rhodey, and Happy was Obadiah. And that got the Arc Reactor ripped out of my chest and then a huge fight on Stark Industries. Ever since then... I just don't want to trust anyone. But then the Avengers came along and it's... It's so hard not to trust you guys," Tony moaned. Pepper smiled and reached forward, giving the genius a hug. He slipped into it and relaxed, trying so hard to not show the full amount of emotion that he felt. Natasha smirked as she looked away, feeling better about retracting her dismissal of Tony. Steve gave the pair a soft smile as he tried to think what would he do.

"I'd stay too. That is, if you guys would have me," Bruce said, changing the topic before Tony could cry. Tony laughed, sounding almost eerily similar to a sob as he backed out of Pepper's arms.

"Of course we'd have you! You and the big guy!" Tony called. Bruce smiled, feeling much safer in his position with the Avengers.

"I'd stay," Steve answered next. Tony, Bruce and Pepper smiled at him. Natasha lightly laughed as she focused on the ground. "You guys are more then just my teammates. You're my friends."

"Thanks, Cap," Tony responded, not at all sounding like he was mocking the captain. Steve laughed at that. Again the hall went silent. Slowly, they looked to Natasha. "Well, spidey?"

"Coulson... Coulson was my handler... No, he was more then that. He was a friend. If... If he wants me to stay, then I'd stay," Natasha retorted. The others deflated a bit. "Look, I honestly can't say what I'd do. I want to say that I'd stay but... I have no idea. And what's worse... I think I saw Coulson earlier."

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**So what do you think? A lot of talking and understanding. And hey, this is the longest chapter I have ever written. ^_^ I just couldn't find a place to stop.**

**So next chapter we get to find out where this whole sickness has been leading too. Actually, the real part of the story that I wanted to work on. I was just very slow in getting there. ^_^**

**Anyways, please review, favorite or follow! This story is now more popular then my other two stories and I love it! My husband is excited for me and can't wait to read some more reviews.**

**Well, thanks for reading! Until next time!**


	13. Worst Nightmare

**A day late again... This time it was cause I wanted to make sure I finished chapter 16 before posting. Then again, I thought this was chapter 14 so it's not that great of a reason. lol.**

**Anyways, baby Clint and I are still healthy. Tuesday I got to the hospital for a pre-op appointment. Wednesday I see my doc again for the last time before the c-section and then Friday, BABY CLINT! ^_^ I'm hoping to post a new chapter on Thursday so that way you guys aren't waiting for me to get out of the hospital. So if by 8 pm on Thursday there is no new chapter, either PM me or review to make sure I get it up. Cause if I don't post then, I have four days in the hospital and I doubt I'll be able to post. And I don't want to keep you waiting after this chapter. lol**

**But, here is the chapter that I have been looking forward to since the beginning of this story!**

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"WHAT!?" four voices intermingled in a shout. Natasha winced. She had expected them to react badly, but this was a bit much. Soon the four were talking over each other asking the assassin questions about why she kept it secret, when it was, where it was, and so on.

"Guys!" Natasha shouted back at them. Slowly their voices diminished. Once the hall was silent again, Natasha spoke. "When was I gonna be able to tell you? I came back to the tower to you guys screaming at me, then Clint passed out, and then we dealt with Fury. I didn't mean to keep it secret. Hell, originally I thought I was going out of my mind. It wasn't until we were talking about Fury keeping secrets that I really began to think about it."

"But, he wouldn't do that. Would he?" Pepper questioned.

"Wouldn't put it past him. He kept it secret that the Tesseract was originally being researched on to power weapons. Why wouldn't he keep it secret that Coulson is actually alive?" Tony snorted. He cursed and then punched the nearest wall. "I should have fucking realized!"

"Look, we all didn't believe Clint. It's not just one of our faults," Steve pointed out. Tony muttered something undiscernible then. Steve frowned. "What was that?"

"JARVIS kept on trying to show me videos but I kept putting them off and when I'd go to look, he'd tell me the file was deleted. He was trying to show me that Clint wasn't lying," Tony groaned. Natasha sighed.

"When we were going around the Helicarrier, JARVIS was directing Clint where to go," Natasha mentioned. Everyone sighed.

"So, should we go look for him or something?" Bruce softly considered. Tony deflated a bit as he thought about it. Natasha shook her head. Steve frowned, seriously debating it. Pepper moaned as she looked toward the doors that Clint vanished through minutes before. Just as her eyes focused on the doors and she realized that it had been a good while since they heard anything, the doors opened and a nurse walked out.

"Are you guys waiting for Barton?" she asked the group. Everyone was on their feet in an instant. Natasha nodded while Bruce answered 'yes'. Tony was sarcastic with his answer of 'of course, we're the Avengers'. Steve gave her a soft smile and Pepper hummed in agreement.

"How is he?" Steve finally cut in before Tony could keep going. The nurse eyed the whole group before nodding.

"He hit his head hard enough to get a mild concussion. He'll have a huge bruise on his forehead for a while. The flu is mostly out of his system, along with the strep throat. His meningitis will be gone within a few days. Other then that, he's right as rain. The doctor was surprised to see there wasn't more damage from falling down the stairs but he guesses that the initial hit on his head knocked him out so he didn't tense. Agent Barton is very lucky. This could have been a lot worse," the nurse informed them. Feeling rather chastised, the group nodded.

"When can we see him?" Pepper inquired for the group after a moment of silence. The nurse waved her hand behind her, a sign that they were all welcome. Giving her a soft smile, Pepper lead the way with Steve and Tony directly behind her. But Natasha and Bruce hung back slightly, both feeling guilty enough to wonder if Clint would even want to see them.

At first, Pepper believe that she was going to be wandering around the med bay forever trying to find Clint. But a male nurse happened to see them and recognized who they were and offered his help. Accepting, they followed him straight to Clint's room. When they got to the door, he held them back to check in. Everyone was thankful when he did cause the doc was standing over Clint's bed checking vitals. After a short conversation, in which Bruce and Natasha caught up to the others, between the doc and the nurse, the two headed to the hall.

"My name is Dr. Ames," the doc introduced himself to the group. Everyone nodded in greeting. "Agent Barton is going to be out for a while longer. I sedated him when he first arrived, as his medical sheet indicates."

"Why does his medical sheet indicates that he should be sedated?" Steve incredulously called. Ames sighed while Tony snorted in humor. Bruce gave a soft smile, remembering how much easier it would be to deal with Clint if he was sedated. Natasha placed a hand over her mouth to cover her smile and snicker. Pepper shook her head and nudged Tony in his ribs to get him to stop laughing.

"He's always medicated to some degree so that he doesn't try to run away before full treatment is given. Normally... Coulson or I drug him," Natasha admitted, hesitating before saying Coulson. Tony's soft snorting quickly turned to full blown laughing now and Pepper's continuous prodding couldn't stop him. But Natasha sighed, covering her own humor at the suggestion. Clint had a good reason. "Clint doesn't like doctors... When he was six, his parents got in a car accident and one doc told him that his mother would survive. Instead his mother died only an hour after being brought in and his father survived long enough to beat Clint nearly to death before a neighbor, brandishing a gun, saved him and his older brother."

"Clint has an older brother?" Tony asked, having stopped laughing almost as soon as Natasha mentioned the car accident. Everyone gave him a surprised look. "What?"

"Out of all that, you only got that he has a brother?" Bruce questioned him. Tony shrugged.

"I knew about the whole parents thing. Clint mentioned that his dad was a dead beat drunkard. I'm not that socially stupid. I know what that tends to mean," Tony growled, feeling insulted that everyone thought him rather oblivious. "My dad wasn't all that great either."

"Well, if you'll excuse me. I have some other patients I must attend to. Please, if he does awaken, don't let him leave just yet. I still want to check and make sure the concussion isn't all that bad. But I do have high hopes that he'll be leaving before the day is out," Ames said before moving to walk away but Bruce stopped him by clearing his throat.

"You don't want to watch him overnight?" the scientist muttered. Ames shrugged.

"Why bother when I know that you could do it and I'd get my bed back?" he countered. Bruce's mouth dropped opened but nothing came out. There was no response to that. Ames had a good point. Clint wouldn't want to stay and so he'd annoy the staff and Bruce could easily watch for signs of further brain damage. Sighing deeply, Bruce nodded.

"I see your point. Is there anything specific we should look for now?" Ames shook his head no.

"Basically, just let a nurse or myself know when it looks like he's waking. But I don't see that happening for another few hours," Ames explained. Bruce nodded and as the other doc walked away, the group entered Clint's room. Natasha quickly grabbed the first plastic chair she could find and pulled it up alongside Clint's bed. Steve went to the furthest corner and leaned against the wall as he crossed his arms over his chest. Bruce went to the end of Clint's bed to grab his medical sheets before Tony could. Ninety percent of it was blacked out but all the injuries the archer ever got wasn't. Tony, now that he couldn't get some reading material, chose one of the remaining two plastic chairs to sit in while Pepper chose the other.

"Well?" Steve called when Bruce sighed and put down the sheets. The doc looked back to the captain.

"Not much to say. Ames did a good job but," Bruce hesitated and looked back to the sheets. He sighed once again when everyone seemed to give him a prodding look. "I was relooking over the meds we used to help his meningitis. We gave him an ototoxic."

"An ototoxic! Oh my god! What the hell is an ototoxic?" Tony sarcastically joked. Bruce frowned as he looked over at Tony. "Hey, I'm a friggin genius and I don't know what the fuck that is."

"An ototoxic is a type of drug that we can give to help cure certain issues. This particular one helps with meningitis but has been known to cause temporary hearing loss," Bruce explained.

"Um. Doesn't meningitis also sometimes cause hearing loss?" Tony countered. Bruce nodded. "Hmm. What would we do if bird brain becomes hearing impaired?"

"Clint's a sniper. You don't really need hearing for that. Right?" Pepper pointed out but then hesitated as she really thought about it. Natasha sighed and looked toward Clint, feeling worried more then before. Steve shifted as he remembered the war were soldiers had to be discharged for hearing loss. Clint was a good fighter, it would suck to lose him to something so stupid. Bruce gave Pepper a light hearted smile.

"Sadly, yes. Your hearing center also controls your balance. Never mind that he works on a team and would need to hear if one of us is calling for help. Imagine us out on a mission and Hulk appeared behind Clint. If he couldn't hear the other guy coming up behind him, he could get crushed or killed," Bruce mentioned. Pepper frowned, almost feeling bad for the archer.

"Clint is also a spy and assassin. If he can't hear an opponent sneaking up behind him, it could get him killed," Natasha added.

"Well, lets pray that he didn't lose his hearing," Pepper commented. Everyone nodded. Silence filled the room for a few minutes before Tony snorted. Slowly the attention was focused on him. He looked up, feeling the gazes and smiled.

"I could always build a little tazer thing that's attached to JARVIS that can warn him if someone is coming. It'd just be a little zap in the area that the person is coming," Tony jokingly said as seriously as he could. Bruce shook his head no. Steve smiled but also shook his head. Pepper giggled lightly but her expression told the genius that it was also a no. And Natasha snorted.

"Yeah, I don't think that'd be the best option," Natasha responded, her voice sounding light. Tony smirked. He figured, but he at least had lightened the mood in the room.

"We'd have to see how bad his hearing is before anyways. It might not be that bad and it may only last a few days," Bruce muttered, sounding like that's what he was hoping for if things did turn for the worse.

"And if it doesn't?" Steve asked. No one looked to him. They could hear in the super soldier's voice that he would drop Clint if need be but he really didn't want to. He would fight to keep Clint on the team, no matter what.

"I guess we'll get to that when the time comes," Tony nearly growled. He really didn't like the idea of losing Clint. The archer had become a good friend of his, even if Clint didn't believe it. Tony couldn't imagine a day without cracking jokes with the archer or even planning a few small pranks.

"Well, going back to an old topic. What do you guys think about Coulson? Could he actually be alive and on the Helicarrier right now?" Pepper inquired, wanting to change the subject off of Clint as soon as possible. She was worried for the archer and sitting there talking about the worse just made her feel bad.

"You know, I think we should bring that up with Fury," Tony suggested, sounding seriously mad. The others all looked at each other before looking at Tony. "What? I mean, yeah, he'll probably lie but if we're all there then one of us can catch him, right?"

"Or, we could bring it up and Fury will move Coulson to another station," Natasha pointed out. Tony frowned.

"He wouldn't do that."

"He would," called a voice that none of them had heard in a long time. As one, they all spun to face the doorway. Pepper gasped and raised her hands to cover her mouth as tears sprung to her eyes. Steve jumped into a soldier's stance but his face told of how much shock he was in. Bruce looked like he was about to collapse from a heart attack or something. Natasha was stunned and had her mouth slightly opened as if she was going to say something but no words would come. Tony blinked rapidly, wondering if he was drunk though he didn't remember drinking. He recovered first.

"Agent?" he weakly asked. Coulson smiled to Tony. Their little in-joke because Coulson had always introduced himself as Agent Coulson and never Phil. Well, that was until Pepper had asked.

"Hello, Mr. Stark," Coulson responded, not paying attention to the correct person in the room. His gaze moved from Tony, to Pepper, to Bruce and then to Steve. A mistake that his face would regret.

_**SMACK!**_

"OW!" Coulson cried as he grabbed at his face and stepped back a little bit. Natasha stood before him, her right hand down by her waist but the agent could see the slightly reddened skin. "Natasha?"

"No! No, you don't get to call me that!" Natasha snapped at him. Coulson sputtered for a minute until he noticed the tears forming in her green orbs. Then all he could do was focus on her eyes. She was crying? For him? "Why?"

"Why what?" Coulson countered, still a little thrown from the slap to his cheek. Natasha groaned before turning away and walking back to Clint. That was when Coulson realized what she wanted. "I was in a medically induced coma for about a week and a half. Then it took about another week for me to officially wake. After that, I was in physical therapy for over two months. By the time I was deemed fit for duty, Fury said that you guys were just starting to get over my death."

_**SMACK!**_

"Damn-it!" Coulson cursed as he grabbed for his cheek again. This time the angry red head before him was Pepper. And she was definitely crying. Coulson's guilty look doing nothing to calm her.

"You are all so stupid! What the hell makes any of you think we were over it?" Pepper nearly shouted at the agent. Coulson sputtered as he tried to come up with any type of excuse or reason but his mind was shutting down.

"Getting over your death? We're barely maintaining a sense of normality," Bruce snorted in a dark sense of humor. He turned away from Coulson as he looked down at Clint. Though he didn't have as long an experience with Coulson, he still missed the agent after the incident. Natasha turned back to Coulson and snapped her left hand to point down at Clint, asleep in the bed.

"Does this look like we're getting over it? Clint went on a mission sick! Why? Cause you weren't there to see that he was sick! He nearly died!" Natasha screamed. Coulson winced as he watched all of the people in the room glaring at him. Well, all but Clint who was beginning to stir far to early thanks to the noise and tension.

"I know," Coulson admitted, looking down to the ground. That made everyone pause.

"You know? You know what?" Natasha snarled. Coulson took a deep breath.

"Fury keeps me updated on how you guys are. I... Well, I visited when Clint was first in medical," Coulson said. Steve stormed forward now, both his hands clenched into fists. Coulson winced, knowing this was going to hurt but nothing happened. Slowly his gaze went up to face Steve. Steve was shaking in anger but kept his fists by his side.

"Get out," Steve softly ordered the other man. Coulson's eyes widened in shock. The room froze as everyone wondered what Steve was doing.

"What?" Coulson nearly squeaked at his hero. Steve's eyes narrowed.

"Get out of here. All you're doing in causing a huge fraction right now. I want you to leave. Not for good. Just for now," Steve nearly demanded, stumbling as he began to realize that he was ordering the agent, that everyone had wanted to see, away. Coulson stuttered again as he tried to figure out how this whole thing went wrong. He had figured that they all wanted him back. But now, as he looked from face to face, he saw that they were all silently agreeing with Steve's demand.

"Are you all sure?" Coulson whispered, trying to focus on everyone. Natasha looked away first. Her green eyes dropping down to Clint. Bruce was next. He sighed and looked to the ceiling which showed a small glint in the corner of his eyes. Pepper turned away completely. She walked towards the back of the room and a soft sob began to echo into the room. Tony was after her, but he sent Coulson an angry glare before turning to see to his girlfriend. Steve... Well, Steve never looked away. His eyes just hardened in determination. Coulson gulped.

"I think this might be for the best right now. Try again when Clint is feeling better," Steve suggested, his voice sounding much softer and guiltier then before. Coulson nodded, his eyes dropping to the ground. But as he turned, Coulson realized that they had joined together as a team. Fury was right in a small degree. They weren't the individuals that Coulson wanted to bring together. They had formed to Avengers. Slowly walking away, Coulson tried hard to focus on that good thought and not the feeling of being abandoned by the people he thought had really wanted him back. But at the door, he paused.

"Coulson?" a weakened voice asked. Coulson spun around, recognizing the voice even if it sounded slurred and drugged. Natasha had stepped away from the bed, her hand covering her mouth in shock. Pepper and Tony were now facing the bed with a surprised look. Bruce was even focused on the person lying there because he knew how hard it must have been for Clint to wake himself up, nevermind speak. Steve had hesitated for a second before he also had turned to look. His eyes widened as he realized that it was indeed Clint who had spoken.

Coulson smiled lightly when Clint's eyes focused on him. Slowly he walked deeper into the room. But Clint's eyes, while watching him, were widening in horror. Coulson could only assume it was because he realized he was in medical. Preparing to calm his once asset down, Coulson moved until he was standing by Steve but by then, Clint was looking towards the others in the room.

"Steve, go get a nurse," Bruce called softly when Clint's eyes gazed onto his face. But when he saw Clint's horror grow even more, the doc knew what was wrong. His face fell. Unknown to the doc, Steve nodded and took off toward the hall. He didn't make it because Clint cried out with a miserable wail. Everyone winced. Clint's eyes focused back on Coulson, almost as if he was trying to make sure the agent was real.

"Clint? Are you okay?" Coulson asked, trying to leave the hint of worry and fear out of his voice. Natasha picked up on it and jerked to a more tense stance as she prepared to catch Clint in case he ran for it. Clint didn't respond. He just slowly lifted his right hand to his ear and felt it, as if he feared it had been blown off.

"Clint?" Natasha inquired after placing her hand lightly on his left arm and drawing his attention. Clint's eyes were in a full blown panic now and it horrified Natasha to her core. But it wasn't as bad as what he declared next.

"I can't hear!"

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**And that is that! OH MY GOD! Next week I'm gonna be a mommy! _ How could it have come so fast!?**

**Anyways, now we know what has been going on with Clint and I bet some of you can see where this might be going. ^_^ I can't wait to get to some of the more funnier ideas that I have for this. I'm almost to one right now. ^_^**

**But as I say at the end of every chapter. Please review, favorite, and follow! And remember, if there is no new chapter by Thursday at 8 pm, PM me or review to remind me to get it up. ^_^**


	14. Hearing is Gone But for How Long?

**OMG! Tomorrow is the big day! Holy crap! I'm about to be a mother to my own little Clint! ^_^**

**Jesus. I've been so overwhelmed this week that I fell behind by another chapter! _ Hopefully I can catch up a bit while in the hospital. If not, then who knows what's gonna happen. But don't worry. I still have two chapters already written and I'm a few thousand words short of the third chapter ahead. So, I'll get to work.**

**Anyways, here is the next chapter.**

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"I can't hear! Why can't I hear?" Clint cried, jerking himself up into a seated position. Bruce was on him in a second, wanting to make sure the archer stayed in the bed. Natasha also shifted to make sure the other side wasn't as big of an escape route. But Clint's panicked gaze, as he looked around at everyone, pretty much said that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Oh god!" Pepper called, her hand flying to her mouth as she held back more tears in the horror of the news. Clint's breathing rate increased, indicating he was going into a panic attack. Adrenalin was flooding his system as he looked around at all of his team mates and friends. Tony froze as he realized that the worst possible situation that could have happened, had just happened. Steve edged back into the room, his eyes widening as he tried not to focus on the fact that the team may have just lost a member. Coulson, who had no idea that this could happen, was horrified. How could someone go from hearing fine and feeling fine, to sick with nothing involving his ears, to deaf?

"Clint, calm down!" Bruce loudly snapped at the archer, placing a hand on the archer's right shoulder. Clint flinched at the feeling, his eyes focusing on Bruce. It took a few seconds of Bruce still hearing the increased rate of breathing and heart rate to realize that Clint didn't know he said anything. "Calm down!"

"What?" Clint slurred as he tried to figure out what the doc was saying. Bruce nearly moaned as he realized he had no idea what to do right now. The best way to ever calm Clint down had always been simply talking to him, but now with that option gone... Even Natasha and Coulson was at a loss on what to do.

"What is going on here? What did you all do here?" Dr. Ames shouted at the group as soon as he appeared at the doorway. The medical equipment had been going ballistic with Clint's panic attacks and so he had been alerted that something was wrong. He rushed over to Clint's side in a matter of seconds, his eyes looking the archer over, trying to determine what was wrong. Clint focused on him when he noticed the others were facing the doctor. Feeling like he could help, Clint answered without even knowing the question.

"My ears!" he whined. Ames frowned, unsure how to answer that. Clint's eyes almost begged him for an answer. "Something's wrong with my ears!"

"Are they in pain?" Ames asked quickly. Clint's brow furrowed as he tried to focus on the question. Natasha gasped.

"Oh my god, he's reading our lips," she stated, but seeing as Clint didn't see her speaking, he responded to Ames.

"No. I... I can't hear," Clint moaned. Ames glanced at Natasha for a second before sighing and looking up to the ceiling in agony. He had known that this was a possibility with the medication and illness that Clint had but hadn't mentioned it because he had never known it to happen to anyone.

"Since when does he know how to read lips?" Tony snarked, rather then commenting on Clint's newfound deafness. Clint's eyes glanced about the room, trying to catch the next person speaking. His eyes glanced over Coulson and they widened slightly but he was distracted when the agent spoke.

"He learned it when he was a kid. Long before coming to S.H.I.E.L.D but he perfected it here. As a sniper, he uses lip reading to help spy on potential targets," Coulson softly answered. Clint focusing on him a few seconds before hand. The archer frowned wondering why Coulson was there and no one was freaking out about it. But before he could ask, Ames took his attention away.

"Clint," Ames called, waving his hand before the archer's face to draw his attention. Clint turned and focused back on the doc. It was easier to deal with the doctor then it was trying to figure out what was going on with Coulson. "Ignore everyone for right now. Just focus on me. I need you to tell me if you can hear anything. Any buzzing, any whistling, anything at all."

"A small buzz," Clint responded after a minute. Ames nodded.

"Is it loud? Soft?"

"Can barely hear it. Something I would normally ignore," Clint mentioned, sounding slightly worried. Ames frowned but nodded again.

"Is he normally this? Placated?" Pepper whispered over to Bruce. Bruce shook his head along with Natasha and Coulson.

"Is there anything else? Pain? Dizziness?" Ames continued, trying to ignore the nagging feeling that Clint understood how serious this was. Hell, there had been times that Clint was bleeding out from some sort of wound and the archer had tried to leave and return to his own bunk. There was this once that Clint needed major surgery for a bullet stuck in his ribcage but Clint wanted to go back out and fight. He had been knocked unconscious and no matter how much anyone tried to convince him the fight was over, Clint still believed someone was after him and no one could stop him from getting out of medical, until they drugged him. That was the incident that made it protocol to drug the archer every time he arrived in medical.

"Just the buzz," Clint said. Ames sighed, unsure what to say next. "Is... Am... Uh. How long will this last?"

Everyone froze. The archer sounded so distraught. And even though his voice was no louder then a whisper, a miracle seeing as he had been pretty much shouting all the other times he had spoken, they could all hear his need for this to be quick. Clint had always been used to getting injured and having no more then a month off of missions. But the worse thing. Coulson knew that Clint had seen many agents from S.H.I.E.L.D that had been put behind desks or even 'let go' when they lost their hearing. The ex-handler could only pray that that wouldn't happen to Clint.

"At this point in time... I wouldn't venture a guess," Ames seriously answered. Clint's gray blue eyes looked up at the doc, showing his begging need for an answer. Ames shook his head. "Look, there are too many variables. You got sick with an illness that is known to cause hearing damage. You were also put on meds that has done the same. And then there is the fact that you feel down stairs, hence why you are here now. I have no idea if you hearing could be lost because of that. I doubt it's that but I can't fully eliminate that as an option."

"Am... Am I gonna be removed... From duty?" Clint nearly silently begged. Ames looked toward Coulson. When the agent shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, Ames turned to Steve. Clint followed his gaze and when he saw Steve's face, his own face fell. Steve sighed deeply.

"As long as you can adjust to the hearing loss and not be a danger, I wouldn't dream of having you removed," Steve slowly explained. Clint frowned, taking the statement in the wrong way.

"I won't do anything stupid," Clint declared. And before Steve could respond, Natasha placed her hand on Clint's shoulder. The archer turned to look at her.

"He means that if you can hear someone coming up behind you during a fight and can protect yourself as much as you protect us," she softly told him. Clint's frown deepened.

"I can protect myself," Clint whined. Natasha rolled her eyes. Ames waved his hand before Clint's face. The archer faced him.

"I'm going to want to run some tests on your ears. We need to figure out how bad this may be. And while doing that, I may be able to determine how long this could last," Ames informed the archer. Clint nodded. Feeling like he was done talking to Clint, Ames turned away from the agent and faced the rest of the room. "I have no idea how long these tests are going to last and I have no room for all of you to stay. I would prefer if none of you stay due to the nature of what is going on, but I understand how Agent Barton can be. So as long as someone stays on the Helicarrier, I'd be happy."

"I still have my room here," Natasha answered quickly. Everyone, but Clint, nodded. The archer hadn't seen her speaking and so was at a loss as to what was happening. But seeing as the conversation seemed over, and Ames giving the others a look that told them to leave, everyone began to slowly take off. No one seemed to notice the panic flashing through Clint's eyes as they waved to him and left the room.

* * *

It took about four days before the Helicarrier suddenly let out a blaring alarm. Natasha, who had been on the phone with Steve, jerked into an upright position in her bed. Steve called out to her over the phone, asking what was happening but she had no answer for him. The alarm was one she hadn't heard in a long, long time. Because of that, it took her a while to realize that it meant a dangerous agent has escaped Medical and they are potentially drugged and not aware of what is going on around them.

"Get the others and get here asap," Natasha finally retorted into her phone before ending the call and rushing out of her room. Coulson was coming down the other end of the hall, his hand on the comm in his left ear. His eyes glanced up from the floor in time to see Natasha turn and look at him. As she opened her mouth to ask what was happening, he raised a finger, telling her to wait. Frowning, she closed her mouth.

"Are you sure?" Coulson asked into his comm. A second later he hummed. Then his face paled and he shook his head. "No, don't send them armed. Yes, I understand he can be a danger. He won't harm an unarmed agent. God damn-it, I was his handler, I know how to treat him!"

"Clint? Clint left medical?" Natasha incredulously called. Coulson focused on her for a second before nodding and going back to listening to his comm. The spy couldn't believe it. Why would Clint run from medical? He knew that they were helping him. Hell, he had been rather placate the last time she had gone to check on him. He was still reading her lips, having been refusing to even begin learning sign language. But there was no sign that he wanted to run.

"What? How is Ames so certain?" Coulson suddenly screamed into his comm. Natasha froze. She had been warned by Ames that he was working on finding out how long this whole thing would last. He was getting more certain by the day that Clint's hearing would be a while to return, if at all. "Don't tell me he told him alone."

"Clint's deafness?" Natasha softly inquired. Coulson hesitated before nodding. "Shit, I know where he went."

With that, she spun on her heel and took off. Coulson's echoing footsteps sounding behind her. But Natasha didn't care. She needed to get to Clint before he did something really stupid. And knowing Clint, there was a lot of stupid things he could do but only one that would make her want to kill him. It was also the only one that Clint had hinted at if he ever lost the ability to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Agent Romanoff and I are on our way now! Tell everyone to back off if they find him and call us!" Coulson ordered. There was a pause before Natasha heard her ex-handler growling. "I don't fucking care! Cli... BARTON NEEDS ME!"

Natasha smirked lightly, glad that the agent behind her finally understood how important he was to the archer. Clint had been devastated when he was told about Coulson. She had waited until after the fight with Loki before she mentioned it. Thankfully she did it before he even noticed the other agent was missing. Clint had freaked. At first he was angry, wanting to get at Loki once again. Then he turned saddened by not being able to get revenge. But the worst was the guilt. Coulson's 'death' just added to the numbers at the end of the attack but it was the only one that truly weighed on Clint's soul.

It took about another four minutes before Natasha burst out onto then highest deck on the outside of the Helicarrier. In less then a second, she lost all her breath. Behind her, she could hear Coulson coughing into his comm, demanding that the Helicarrier be lowered. Natasha slammed the door shut and spun around. Hanging off the wall, right next to the door, were two air masks. She quickly grabbed one and threw it on. Before she could hand the other over to Coulson, the agent had already grabbed it and was wrestling it on. Once they were set, she opened the door again and the two stepped out onto the wind swept deck.

No more then three seconds later, Natasha spotted the archer and pointed to him when she got Coulson's attention. The other agent nodded and the two slowly advanced. Clint was standing directly on the edge of the Helicarrier. He also had a breathing mask on, which rather surprised Natasha considering what she thought he was planning on doing up here. When the duo were only a few steps away, Clint turned to look at them.

"You can't stop me," Clint told them through the mic embedded into the masks. Natasha shook her head, and her eyes shifted to show sadness. Clint frowned and then realized that the masks covered Natasha's and Coulson's mouths so they couldn't talk to him. Knowing it was so much easier on him. Sighing, Clint gave her a thumbs up. "It's for the best."

"Clint, don't do anything!" Coulson screamed into his mic, even though he knew the archer couldn't hear it. Clint gave him a thumbs up as well before stepping backwards. Coulson jerked forward, intent on trying to catch the other agent but Clint only had one more step before he vanished over the edge.

"NO!"

* * *

**Wow... I didn't realize that I was going to be that mean... Whoops. Really big cliffhanger. lol**

**Well, review, favorite and follow! It'll really cheer me and my husband up while we are in the hospital. Then again, I think baby Clint will handle that well on his own. ^_^ Course, I know he loves when I read the reviews aloud to him. He tends to move around more. lol**

**Until next time, which if things go well will be Friday once again. Wish me luck! ^_^**


	15. It Can't Be True

**First off, I AM ALIVE! As is baby Clint. He is beautiful. Born at 10lbs 9oz and 22 and a half inches tall. He can basically sleep through the night, just waking for food and changing. Barely ever cries. I love him sooooooo much! I'd like to thank everyone for the well wishes. It was lovely to read them as I waited for the doctor to bring me into the surgery room.**

**Sadly though, I did not get as much writing done as I intended. Actually, I barely wrote one hundred words since Friday. Whoops. I hope that as my husband finishes all the chores that he has planned to do, I can work some more. But who knows.**

**Anyways, here is the next chapter.**

* * *

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Tony screamed, making sure to keep his face centered on Clint. The archer looked away, embarrassed. They two of them had been at this for a while now. Clint refused to answer, no matter how many times Tony asked. The billionaire growled in anger and reached forward, risking his life, as he grabbed Clint's chin and raised it until the gray blue eyes focused on his face once again. All Clint could see was the anger. No understanding, no sympathy, nothing but anger. "What if I wasn't there? What then?"

"That was kind of the point," Clint muttered so softly that the slur made it hard to understand. His eyes dropped down so he couldn't see the shock on the genius's face when he mentally translated what the archer said. Tony snarled and released the archer's chin before storming off. He wasn't used to dealing with other people's emotional baggage. But now, after watching Clint jump off the Helicarrier and seeing him plummet to the ground, Tony finally understood why everyone was still upset with him from when he was having his palladium poisoning. Natasha, who had been in the room for the past few minutes, moved forward now. Her face showed very little emotion. A sign that she was rather upset with Clint.

"Clint, we're trying to work through this," she softly told her partner when he focused on her. Clint nodded, knowing that Coulson and her had already been informed of what Ames had figured out. He had seen it in their faces before. Hell, he had focused on Natasha's panicked face and simply prayed that she could forgive him. It was the reason he had tried to commit suicide by Helicarrier. Judging by Tony's reactions to catching him halfway toward the ground, Clint assumed that the genius hadn't been informed. Most of the other Avenger's panic was based on watching the archer fall from the carrier. "Please, give us more time."

"For what?" he asked, sounding much clearer then before. Natasha sighed, wishing that that was a sign that Clint's hearing was improving. But Ames had informed her that when Clint gets upset, he sounds more normal. Clint focused harshly on her face. He noticed that she winced lightly and he wondering if he was talking too loud. During testing with Ames, the doc had to say a few times that the archer was screaming and to calm down. "Seriously? More time for what? It's over Nat."

"What's over?" called Steve's voice as the super solider walked into the room, Bruce and Pepper in tow. There was a long pause as everyone waited for Clint to answer, almost as if they had all forgotten that Clint couldn't hear. When the agent gave his partner a look that asked if she as going to answer him, Natasha almost started crying. But instead, she sucked it up and mouthed the question for him. Turning away from the group, Clint just prayed that they'd all leave soon. There was no way in hell he'd ever admit what Ames had told him. He nearly jumped when a slightly chilled hand pressed against his and rubbed the handcuffs wrapped around his wrist. Slowly, he looked to it and followed it to Pepper's saddened face.

"I can't do this," Clint moaned to her when he saw the question waiting to be asked behind her eyes. Pepper gave a soft sympathetic smile before opening her arms into a hug. She nodded her head to him to make sure she had permission. Once he sighed and nodded back, she leaned over the edge of the bed and pulled the archer into a hug as best as she could considering he was locked down into the bed. While that was going on, Steve looked to the others in the room while Bruce turned to Clint's medical chart.

"What happened?" Steve asked.

"We're damned lucky that I decided to fucking take my suit and fly ahead! That's what fucking happened!" Tony snapped, feeling more irritated with himself then he did with Clint. For some reason the genius was blaming himself for what happened. Almost as if he believed his presence could have changed something. Coulson entered the room at this point. He had been in a meeting with Fury about how mentally stable Clint was. Even though the older agent wasn't the archer's handler anymore, he was the only one who had the ability to answer that without asking Clint directly.

"Okay, again without the swears?" Steve questioned. Tony snarled and spun around, intent on punching Steve but Bruce stopped him with a gasp. Tony paused as Bruce spoke.

"Oh my," the doc moaned. Steve, Tony, Pepper, Coulson and Natasha turned to look at him. Clint leaned back in his bed and focused on the blocked off vent above him. It was triple sealed with extra screws, super glued and had alarm sensors for a good five feet deep into it. There was no way he'd ever be able to escape this room again. Actually, Clint wondered why they never did anything like that in the first place? He was known to escape through the vents before his time in medical was served.

"What?" Pepper softly called when Bruce didn't continue. The doc looked away from the papers to see everyone but Clint focused on him.

"Clint... He's deaf..." Bruce paused, unsure how to continue.

"Yeah, old news. We knew that already. Get to something new," Tony snarled. Bruce looked away from the group.

"Ames has found that Clint's deafness will last for longer then a few months. He actually believes that it may be a few years before it comes back, if at all," Coulson continued for the doc, knowing that Natasha nor Bruce would be able to answer. Silence fell over the room as everyone processed the information. Coulson sighed and looked to Natasha. She hadn't been given all the information. When he was in his meeting with Fury, Ames had been there as well, putting in his own two cents. "Clint is 80% deaf in his right ear and his left ear started at 60% but through the tests have steadily gotten worse... Ames believes it will level out so that both ears are at 80%."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean he can still use hearing aids?" Pepper asked. Coulson nodded.

"But one EMP and out they go. A lot of the smarter villains have been trying to hit me with one. If I'm flying past Clint when they set it off, he'd... Well, he'd be like this," Tony pointed out, finishing by waving his hand over toward Clint. The archer was still focused on the vent above his bed and seemed to be ignoring everyone in the room.

"Can't you design an aid that would last through an EMP?" Natasha questioned softly, praying against everything that Tony would say yes. There was a long hesitation.

"I don't know much about how hearing aids work. But given time, I can see what I can do," Tony admitted. Steve stepped forward.

"I want you working on that right away. If we can save Clint's hearing, I want it done," the captain ordered. Tony nodded, for once not bothered by the fact that Steve was trying to force his authority over him. Normally this would have caused a huge fight. "Now, Natasha, what can we expect from Clint?"

"Well," Natasha began but stopped, turning to look at the archer. His eyes were beginning to look dazed as the spy realized that he was slowly falling asleep on them. Giving him a small smile that he didn't notice, Natasha looked to the others and nodded to the hallway. It took a few seconds before everyone understood she wanted them outside. Slowly they left, trying to get Clint's attention before leaving but he didn't once look at any of them. Once in the hall, Natasha silently closed the door, watched Clint for a few seconds before turning to look at the others. "Clint has pretty much given up."

"What do you mean?" Bruce inquired. Natasha sighed.

"Well, him jumping off the Helicarrier was him trying to make things easier on all of us. He's afraid of getting kicked off the Avengers and then fired from S.H.I.E.L.D. So, before any of that happened and, in his mind, ruined his life... He just figured it would be better if he simply died," Natasha explained, not fully understanding the logic behind it herself. But then again, Clint's never been all that great with logic. He normally just goes with the flow. It had never been a big deal, but Natasha had warning signs for situations like this. She had told her fears to Coulson and so the two had always been prepared. Hence why one of the two of them was always in Medical when Clint woke and why they were there when doctors delivered any type of news. But since Manhattan, things have changed.

"So is he going to continue trying?" Steve countered, fearing for Clint's mental health. Natasha frowned and looked to the ground. As much as she wanted to say no, she couldn't. When Clint set his mind to do something, he kept on trying until he succeeded. Steve sighed and looked up to the ceiling as if praying for help. After a second, he looked back to Natasha. "What can we do?"

"Never leave him alone. Don't let him work to hard. Make sure he follows doctor's orders, whatever they may be. Don't let him focus on his problem, though that's going to be rather hard. Make sure he knows that none of you will give up on him," Coulson stated, taking over for Natasha. When the red head nodded in agreement, the others looked toward Clint. He was now completely lying back in the bed, his face was looking toward the other wall and his breathing was nice and even. "He's going to sulk on this for a long time. Everything will remind him of what he lost. Ames warned me that hearing loss effects more then just sound. He's going to have trouble speaking unless he focuses on his words, which is a slight given. But what will shock all of you, his balance is going to be off. He's going to have a hard time moving around until his sense of balance fixes itself. Hell, when he goes to shot again, don't be surprised if he misses."

"Your hearing effects your balance?" Pepper questioned. Bruce, Coulson and Tony nodded. Tony only knew of that because of a past situation involving his father. Thankfully, his ears healed from the issue and it was never mentioned to the public. "I didn't know that."

"And Clint might not know that either. He seemed to get to the top of the Helicarrier fine so he either didn't notice his balance was off or he assumed it was the drugs still in his system. So be prepared for the shock of that. The more you all learn about his hearing disability and use your own knowledge to inform him, the better your relationship will get. But don't shove all the information down his throat at once. Give it to him slowly, let him soak it in," Coulson explained. Everyone nodded, trying to remember all the right ways to treat Clint now. "Above all else, when he is allowed to go back to the tower, be careful when interacting with him. Make sure he knows you're there before trying much of anything. He is a trained assassin, remember that in all of your dealings with him."

"Speaking of him leaving," called a new voice. Everyone turned and noticed Dr. Ames walking down the hall toward them. One hand was curled around something rather small. "I've got some hearing aids for him."

"Are you sure that's wise right now?" Bruce questioned. Ames tilted his head to the side. "I mean, giving him the aids right after he tried to... Well, kill himself?"

"Well, there isn't much more I can do. I have no treatment for helping return hearing so there is no point in him being here. His meningitis is cleared up. As is his strep and flu. So, I just recommend him going home and getting used to using the hearing aids," Ames suggested. Bruce frowned and looked back toward the room. "Well, at least give him some time to run out the rest of the drugs. He'll be good to go in a few hours."

"Hey doc, do you think you could explain how the aids work?" Tony softly asked. Ames raised an eyebrow at Tony, briefly wondering if the genius was serious. It took a few more seconds before Tony realized why the doc was giving him an odd look. The billionaire's face flushed in embarrassment as he raised his hands to defend himself. Once he began talking, the others either smiled or laughed at Tony. "No, not what I meant! I mean, I know they help him hear and all, but I need to know how! How they convert the sound waves and stuff. Hell, I just need to know how to make it so an EMP won't kill them."

"I get it. Yes, I can try and explain it. Meet me in my office in five and we'll work on it," Ames explained. Tony nodded, looking rather flushed as he turned away from the others.

"May I join you?" Bruce added. Ames nodded before handing off the aids that had been in his hands to Natasha. She accepted them and looked at them in almost a stunned silence. Unsure what to do now, she just stared. Even Pepper was staring at them awkwardly. Steve's gaze was focused on Ames, Tony and Bruce who were beginning to leave. Coulson was glancing over to Clint, making sure the archer was fine. It wasn't until Ames, Tony and Bruce rounded the corner that Steve turned to the girls.

"Now what?"

"Now, we wait," Coulson answered, his gaze still on the sleeping archer in the other room.

* * *

**Not a cliffhanger this time. Bet many of you are pleased with that. I do have one other chapter pre-written and most of the chapter after that but I'm close to it being finished.**

**Well, please review, favorite and follow. It will remind me and spur me to write more. Never mind that my husband took some vacation time from work and can easily read everything.**

**That's it for now. See you all next week! ^_^**


	16. Returning to the Tower

**So week two is over with baby Clint at home. He is wonderful. Barely ever cries unless he is hungry or needs to be changed. Sleeps through the night outside of feedings. And just got weighed in earlier at 10lbs 10oz. Now there have been a few of you that asked what he looked like. He has dark brown hair, just like both my husband and myself and as of right now he has blue eyes but all babies are born with blue eyes and they change over time. I'm unsure how long until I know the actual color of his eyes.**

**Anyways, I've been trying to work hard on getting further ahead again. I am now up to chapter 20. Not done with said chapter but I am almost done there. And I still have a few more ideas on what I want to do with this story. I can't wait to get to a few of those ideas, so I should get back to work.**

* * *

It wasn't until the next day that Clint actually left Medical and was brought back to the tower. Ames had to spend an extra five hours making sure the aids he had brought for him were okay. They needed to be at a good volume, that they fit in the archer's ears properly, that they were comfortable, and a few other tests. And, as usual, Clint seemed to decide that he was going to be a jerk and be as unhelpful as possible. But once Natasha threatened to have Tony actually make the shock collar that was mentioned the day before, Clint began answering the doc's questions. Neither were sure if she would have actually gone through with the threat, but Clint figured it was best to be safe.

But now that they were back in the tower, no one had any clue what to do. Tony and Bruce had quickly escaped to the lab so they could get to work on building Clint's new hearing aids. No one noticed Clint's despaired look as they took off. The reason for it was because of the fact that none of them had explained what the two were going to be doing. In his depression, Clint believed the worst of everyone and so he thought that they were abandoning him.

Pepper told Natasha that she had work to do before hand so she placed a hand on Clint's shoulder lightly. When he snapped his head around to look at her, Pepper informed him of what she was doing. She waited until the archer nodded before smiling and giving him a light kiss on the cheek before leaving herself. That left Clint, Natasha and Steve standing in the entrance of the living room, wondering what to do now.

"Want to watch a movie?" Steve softly asked the two when there was another minute of silence. Clint shook his head no while Natasha waited to see how the archer would respond. When he said no, Natasha frowned but her eyes told Steve that she had wanted Clint to agree. Steve shrugged, knowing that they couldn't force Clint to do anything. Neither one of them noticed Clint's face closing off all emotions. Why would he want to watch a movie and be reminded that he'll never hear it again without the help of the stupid aids in his ears.

"In the mood to shoot," Clint muttered before spinning on his heel and walking off toward the elevator. Natasha and Steve traded a glance, wondering which of them should follow him. In the end, they both slowly trailed after him. JARVIS opened the doors to the elevator and allowed them in but when Clint pressed the button for the range, JARVIS hesitated.

"Are you sure you wish to go there?" JARVIS questioned, having heard through Tony's phone that Clint's balance would be messed up. And while he had the hearing aids in at the moment, JARVIS could sense the slight imbalance that made Clint lean to one side. Apparently no one had noticed it as everyone continued on like normal. Clint looked up toward the small camera that was placed in the corner of the ceiling by the control panel. His evil glare made JARVIS wish he didn't even ask. JARVIS also noted Natasha's and Steve's confusion but figured they'd realize what he meant sooner or later.

"JARVIS, let me go there," Clint ordered before harshly pressing the button. This time it lite and the elevator began to move. Natasha and Steve said nothing as they watched Clint begin to shift his weight back and forth between his feet. But before either one of them could come up with a good question to ask the archer, the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened. Clint nearly leapt out of the enclosed space and into the huge open range. Again, Natasha and Steve slowly followed.

"What are we gonna do if he misses?" Steve whispered so softly that they were certain that Clint couldn't hear. Too bad Clint had lied to Dr. Ames on the Helicarrier and made it so that he had almost superhuman hearing. Hearing Steve's question made the archer bristle. He hadn't missed a shot since his first lessons in the circus. Well, when it came to archery, he hadn't missed since then. Each new weapon he learned on he usually started with not hitting dead center but at least hitting the target. Not a miss for most people, but to him, anything that wasn't dead center was a miss.

"We'll deal with it if it comes," Natasha answered back, just as softly. Clint frowned. Natasha had never doubted him before. But rather then focusing on that issue, Clint began to mentally prepare himself for a few hours of shooting away his troubles. Grabbing his oldest bow and some normal arrows, Clint set himself up in the middle of the room. Natasha and Steve stood behind him. Not close enough to bother him and far enough away to be safe enough if an arrow backfired for some strange reason.

Clint sighed deeply as he stared at the targets before him. He was relaxing himself before reaching over his shoulder and grabbing an arrow. Loading it into the bow, he raised the weapon and drew the string back till it lightly touched his cheek. Sighing deeply, Clint closed his eyes as he felt the pull from the string's weight. Slowly he opened his eyes and focused on where he wanted to hit. A second later he released the string and stared in shocked silence.

"Oh shit," Natasha cursed when she focused on the target at the end of the range. Steve shifted so he could look down the range as Clint had been blocking his view of the target. Even his eyes widened in surprise when he saw where the arrow was placed. Far to the left side of the target, just at the edge of the paper was the black arrow and purple fletchings. "Clint?"

Clint said nothing. He just quickly grabbed a new arrow and loaded it into his bow. A second later he set himself up and shot again. This time the arrow landed on the right side, one ring in. Clint's eyes widened as his breathing increased. He wasn't sure how to respond to what had just happened. Natasha walked forward, making sure to do it right next to his side so that he could see her approaching. As she just about reached his side, Clint dropped his bow to the ground.

"Clint?" Natasha softly called, worried that this whole situation would make Clint's depression worse. As she slowly looked to see Clint's face, she realized this was far worse then depression. Clint just lost his one emotional outlet. This whole hearing issue was much bigger then anyone could have predicted. "Clint? Are you okay?"

"Tasha," Clint whined so quietly that the word was more light a high pitched cry. His sky blue eyes turned to look at her and all she saw was emotional devastation. It was so hard looking at him at this point. But Natasha held eye contact and watched as the tears began to form. That almost broke her own wall of emotions down. "Tash!"

"Clint, it will be okay," Natasha promised as she leaned forward, almost prepared to hug the archer. Clint dropped to his knees before she could stop him. After a second to realize that he had fallen, Natasha kneeled down beside him. Steve moved closer, wanting to help but when Natasha noticed, she shook her head no and waved him back. Frowning, Steve followed her order but his face told her that he didn't agree with it. "Clint, it's going to be fine."

"No... No, Tash... It won't," Clint nearly sobbed before leaning against her body. Natasha stiffened in shock before relaxing and pulling the archer closer into her. Clint easily fell into her. His eyes were focused on the two missed placed arrows. "I'm gonna get fired."

"No. No you won't," Natasha determinedly stated. Clint groaned, unbelieving, as he looked up into Natasha's green eyes. He wanted to believe her. Hell, he'd love to believe that what she was saying was true. But he knew more then she did. Clint's only good use was his aim. If he couldn't hit a target anymore, then what was he good for? Before Coulson, Clint had switched handlers faster then the months changed. He was a trouble maker that the Council hated anyways. And he was still partly labeled as a traitor by most of the other agents. Why would Fury want to deal with someone like that if they couldn't offer anything else?

"We won't let you get fired, Clint. You are part of this team, hearing or not," Steve nearly ordered from his position a few steps away. Clint stiffened at the captain's voice and Natasha shot the super soldier an evil glare. When Steve gave her a confused look, she mouthed 'shut up' to him and left it at that. Steve really hated that idea. He wanted to help Clint just as much as Natasha. But when he noticed Clint's tense form hidden mostly by Natasha's body, he understood. Clint wouldn't open up to him. But the archer would open up to Natasha. "I'll go talk to Bruce about seeing what we can do to help."

The two assassins stayed silent as they watched Steve head for the elevator. Even when he turned to make sure that it was okay that he leave, neither of them spoke. With a quick, hesitant wave, Steve vanished into the elevator and took off for the lab that he knew the scientists had escaped too earlier that day. Once the elevator closed, Natasha looked down at Clint to see if he was more relaxed. Sadly, he wasn't. If anything, he was more upset then before.

"Clint, I promise. Everything will be fine," Natasha cooed. Clint laughed.

"You know that? Is that what you know?" Clint mocked, his mind briefly flashing back to when he was fighting off the remains of Loki's control before the battle in New York. Natasha almost smirked as the familiar words but held it in at the last second. Slowly, Clint looked up to her face. She looked down at his. "What if you're wrong?"

"You need time. We all need time to figure this out. It's a big change," Natasha admitted. Clint frowned and looked back to the target and what he has now deemed the evil arrows. "You will get used to this."

"Nat... What if I don't want to?"

* * *

Steve arrived at the lab with his mind still focused on Clint's miss fire. He couldn't believe that loosing his hearing could mess his aim up so much. How could something like that make Clint miss? It just made no sense to the leader of the Avengers. But he knew someone who could help him make sense of this whole thing. Course as soon as the elevator opened to the hallway that lead to the lab that the scientists had locked themselves in, Steve wondered if he should bother Bruce. He could always ask JARVIS for help.

"Bruce, what about this?" Tony's voice called as it leaked down the hall. Steve sighed and moved forward feeling less and less comfortable with bothering either men.

"No, Tony. I need smaller," Bruce's voice responded gently but with a slight edge of annoyance. Steve almost smiled at the familiar tone. As mean as it was, Steve loved to hear the others getting just as upset or more so at Tony then he did. It made it feel more... Normal. No, that wasn't it. It made Steve feel more normal. Having everyone else having the same issue made it not seem so personal.

"Smaller? Are you serious?" Tony cried in disbelief as Steve finally entered the actual lab. The super soldier was half surprised that the glass doors weren't locked when he came upon them. Actually, he had been stunned to see them wide open and inviting.

"Tony, it's going in a piece inside Clint's ear canal. It needs to be almost microscopic," Bruce explained. Tony scoffed and spun to go looking through a huge bin of what seemed to be colorful wax but was actually cords covered in colored plastic. Steve smiled and waved when Tony's eyes fleeted over the captain before shifting back.

"Steve! To what do we owe the pleasure?" Tony asked. Steve hesitated long enough for Bruce to turn around and look at him as well.

"Well," Steve began but stopped. Bruce put down some sort of tool before moving closer.

"What happened?" Bruce questioned, already seeing where this conversation was going. Steve looked at Bruce with a deep sigh and saddened eyes. Bruce silently groaned. "What did Clint do?"

"He went shooting," Steve explained.

"So, he always shoots when he needs to relax. Nothing new there," Tony scoffed. Bruce removed his glasses before rubbing his nose. He could see what happened as clear as day even though he hadn't been in the range during the incident. Tony, well Tony was oblivious. "Right? Nothing new?"

"Tony, Clint's hearing isn't normal now. Even with the aids. There is going to be an adjustment period," Bruce tried describing but the genius gave him a confused look.

"Adjustment period?" Tony asked.

"He missed," Steve answered for Bruce. Tony's eyes widened in shock.

"No!"

"Tony, his balance got messed up when he lost his hearing. The aids... They may not be adjusted correctly. His balance must still be slightly off. If he tried shooting like how he used too... I'm not surprised he missed," Bruce responded. Tony looked like he was about to smack the doctor for a minute before he realized what all this meant. In less then a second, the billionaire had turned his angry gaze upon the captain.

"Why the fuck would you let him go shoot? We fucking mentioned the balance thing before!" Tony snapped before briefly wondering if it had ever been mentioned. But considering he couldn't take it back now, he just went with it.

"We had no idea what else to do! And how would you have gone about telling him he couldn't? There was supposed to be nothing stopping him," Steve pointed out. Bruce nodded in agreement while Tony snorted in laughter.

"I'd simply tell him," Tony mentioned. Steve rolled his eyes.

"Always an out with you. Can't you see how that would have made the situation worse? Clint needed the relaxation of shooting. You tell him he can't and he'd fight you. Heck, it'd probably ruin any relationship you had with him," Steve growled. Tony snorted before spinning on his heel and walking back over to the bin of cables. He quickly shifted through them. Steve sighed and looked over at Bruce. The doc shrugged before sighing himself.

"Please tell me you didn't leave him alone," Tony asked, sounding more depressed then normal. Almost as if he was channeling Clint's feelings from ten floors away.

"Natasha is with him," Steve replied, unsure why Tony cared. Tony laughed and turned to look at Steve.

"You left him with the emotional wall?" he cried. He couldn't believe that Natasha could offer the distraught archer anything that involved emotions. Steve frowned, seeing in the billionaire's gaze that he didn't trust Natasha to handle Clint.

"Natasha knows what she's doing. They have been partners for years," Steve reminded. Tony scoffed.

"And that's why it wasn't until the debrief with Fury that Clint found out about Coulson," he snapped. There was a pause before he laughed and tossed his hands into the air. "Which we learned was a lie anyways, but still!"

"Do you think you can do better then Natasha? Do you know how to help calm Clint down? If you do, then feel free to go down and help. If not, I'd suggest working on those aids, he'll need them," Bruce countered for Steve. Tony rolled his eyes but didn't move to leave the lab. Instead he began going through the cables once again. Bruce glanced at Steve, silently asking if there was anything else. Once the doc was certain Steve was done, he turned back to the small devices behind him.

"Do you think I should go back?" Steve questioned after a few minutes of silence. But neither scientist answered.

"Don't bother, he just locked himself in his room," Natasha called as she entered the lab. Tony spun around.

"And you let him?" he incredulously called. Natasha then gave him a look that told him that somehow, Clint had either tricked her or had escaped from her. He frowned. "Oh. Should we be worried?"

* * *

**Well, that is that. Remember to review, favorite and follow! Heck, you can even send me some ideas on what you'd like to see.**

**Until next chapter!**


	17. First Mistake

**So, baby Clint and I are doing well. No issues. Sunday, my husband goes back to work so that'll be fun. First day alone with the baby. Hopefully we'll last fine.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I missed a few of my normal reviewers... But that may have been cause my phone randomly stopped accepting my e-mails for a bit. But it's fixed now.**

**Anyways, onto the new chapter!**

* * *

Clint slid down the door as he felt Natasha's fists begin pounding against it. Tears were falling out of his eyes as the vibrations shook his body. Clenched in his hands were the two offending aids that he had removed while running through the halls. He tried so hard to stop sobbing but he needed the release so badly. In his deafness, he missed that his sobs were so loud that Natasha could hear them through the door. Seconds later, the pounding stopped but Clint couldn't tell because his body was racked with sobbing that he was literally shaking.

Outside the room, Natasha closed her eyes and laid her head against the door. Sighing deeply, she absorbed all the sounds from the other room. There was only a handful of times that she had ever heard Clint cry. Not once did it ever sound as broken and defeated as he did right then. Nor was he ever this loud. But Natasha was more concerned about the fact that he handled Coulson's supposed death better then losing his hearing. That came as a bigger shock. Frowning, Natasha backed away from the door.

"We'll work through this Clint. I swear, we'll work through this," Natasha promised, even though she knew that the archer had removed his hearing aids. Never mind the fact that his crying would have drowned out the words normally. But as tears began to form in Natasha's own eyes, she steeled herself, shutting down her emotions before spinning on her heels and walking back toward the elevators.

It took Clint almost thirty minutes to calm himself down enough to get away from the door. And even then, he crawled along the floor until he made it deeper into the apartment. Getting to his feet, slowly, Clint wandered into the living room area of his apartment and froze. The TV was on. Admittedly it was a black screen, but Clint could tell it was on. He stared at it while it was off so much that he could tell the slightly more grayed tone that indicated it was trying to show some sort of picture. In his stupor, he watched as writing began to fill the screen. Not once did he even think that this was a threat or even a hallucination, he just read.

'Agent Barton, would you like for me to call upon someone? Or would you like to be left alone?' The words read. Clint frowned at it before realizing that it had to be JARVIS. Without the hearing aids, Clint couldn't hear the AI, so the computer hacked into his television. Clint smiled softly before gently replacing his aids. Right away he felt a sharp pinch as one of the wires lightly touched his skin and sent off a small electrical pulse. He winced, determined to ignore it. Ames had mentioned that if Clint put the aids in wrong then that would happen. Sighing, he wished that he paid a bit more attention to how to properly put the aids in his ears.

"Thanks JARVIS, I'll be fine," Clint clearly called out into the room. He was pleased to know that he could actually hear his own voice once again but all of it just reminded him of what he lost. There was a slight buzzing from his aids seconds before the AI responded. Frowning, Clint wondered if that would happen every time.

"That is not what I asked, Agent Barton," JARVIS said in a tone that sounded so much like mockery. Clint snorted in humor. Trying to forget about his blasted aids and have a decent conversation with the AI.

"I know. I would like to be left alone for now," Clint admitted, humor covering his sadness. There was a long pause. Frowning, Clint wondered if JARVIS had spoken and his aids didn't catch the words. But then he heard the slight buzzing again before the AI spoke.

"Should I be worried for anything, Agent Barton?" JARVIS asked. Clint hesitated. He couldn't have heard what he thought. The aids must be really messing with his hearing more then he first thought. Cause there was no way that the AI could sound worried.

"Like what?" Clint retorted, half fearing the answer he'd get. When JARVIS refused to respond, Clint knew what the AI meant. At first he scoffed at the idea, surprised that JARVIS would even think that. But then he remembered the Helicarrier incident. Though it was Tony who caught him in the Iron Man suit, JARVIS was hooked up to it. He sighed deeply, wondering how his life had turned into this one question. Would he try and commit suicide again? "No. No, I don't think we have to worry about that."

"If you are certain," JARVIS bravely answered. Clint nodded, reaching up to rub his ears. Briefly he wondered if he should mess with the settings to try and get rid of the buzzing but decided against it. It was a second later that Clint realized the AI was humoring him. He didn't believe the archer. And that idea almost crushed the remains of Clint's heart. If the logical AI couldn't believe him, how could he convince the others?

Distraught and no longer in the mood to be polite to the AI, Clint removed the aids and threw them against the furthest wall in the room. In a testament to S.H.I.E.L.D tech, they didn't shatter or even look to break. Clint screamed in anger before storming off to the bedroom and dropping his body heavily onto his queen sized bed. He laid there for less then a minute before he realized that he hadn't heard himself scream. His sore throat indicated that he had and he was pretty positive that he did it at the top of his lungs. But he hadn't heard even the tiniest of peeps. Once again, the tears began to form but this time, he refused to let them fall. So there he laid for over an hour, fighting the need to sob into the sheets before drifting into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

The others were unsurprised when Clint didn't make an appearance for the rest of the day. JARVIS informed them that the archer was fine, simply sleeping off his depression, and urged them to continue on without him. Natasha and Pepper were both unsure with the decision but when the AI promised to keep an eye on Clint, they relented. It felt weird for all of them, knowing that Clint was locking himself up in his room. Even after the Manhattan incident, Clint never locked himself away. Natasha had even mentioned before that Clint would always prefer company to sulking. It seemed that more then just hearing loss had changed.

Dinner was silent with two missing team members. Everyone had slowly made their way up and began making separate pieces of the meal. Steve cooked the main meats, Bruce made the soup, Pepper made a side salad and Natasha baked the bread. Tony, the last to appear, got all their drinks set. It was the safest thing for him to do. But as they sat down to eat, everyone focused on Clint's empty seat.

"JARVIS? Is Cupid coming for dinner?" Tony asked when he saw Natasha glance over at him, an almost desperate look on her face. There was silence for a few moments before JARVIS answered.

"I believe not sir. He is still sleeping," JARVIS said. Everyone sighed. No one knew what to say, or even do at this point. It was all a waiting game now. And they could only hope that the team would make it through this.

After the awkward dinner, Tony suggested they try to watch a movie. Again, JARVIS said that Clint wouldn't join them. The movie was chosen by Steve. It was a movie that he had picked out long before this moment and had been waiting for the night he got to pick. But now, as he re-read the description, he wondered if it was a good idea. Giving in to the idea that it might help in the end, he tossed it in. Sadly, it was a historical movie based on Helen Keller. The only reaction that most of the group gave to it was wondering why the hell Tony would have a movie like that. But needless to say, they did learn a bit more about what Clint was going to be suffering through. And they could only pray that Clint wouldn't be as bad as Keller considering he used to be able to hear and he wasn't blind.

After the disaster of a movie, they all called it a night and headed to bed or what they considered to be bed. Tony ended back up in the labs, trying to work on the hearing aids without Bruce's help. AC/DC blared through the speakers as he worked away. Bruce headed to his sound proof relaxation room, playing some nature sounds that he had recorded while on the run. Natasha actually did head to her room. There she grabbed the Ipod that Coulson had given Clint as an anniversary for joining S.H.I.E.L.D. When she had learned of his deafness, she had broken in to his room and stolen it. Now, she laid on her bed crying as she listened to the archer's preferred playlist. Most of the songs were ones that the two had heard on missions and both enjoyed. Steve went to the gym and quickly began beating on the poor punching bags. He made it through sixteen before he went back to his room and drifted off into a heavy sleep. Pepper headed to her and Tony's room. At first she tried sleeping. Then she tried reading. In the end, she fell asleep watching TV.

It was because of all of their choices in resting that no one heard Thor return to the tower. Even though he had caused a huge thunderstorm in his return, not a one of them heard it. So the good stood in the living room, wondering why someone had yet to greet him. Normally, someone was waiting for him on the roof at the first sounds of thunder. But tonight, he could not find a single person. JARVIS eventually took pity on the god and informed him that the others had gone to bed. Okay with the idea that his friends were safe in their rooms, Thor turned to TV on in the living room and began to watch whatever came on until morning.

* * *

Clint woke to sun streaming onto his face. Turning his head away, the archer groaned at the mild headache. He had been suffering through morning headaches now for so long that it didn't faze him. But he silently resolved to talk to Bruce and make sure he was completely cured of his numerous illnesses. Getting up out of bed, Clint stumbled over to his bathroom and turned the shower on without a thought to what time it might be. Pausing to look in the mirror, Clint saw his reddened eyes and frowned. He remembered crying a little before but he didn't think it would have lasted. Looking back to the bed, he noticed a wet spot on the sheets, right where his face had been. He had slept cried. Shaking it off, he stripped down and stepped into the shower. He really didn't want to think about it, so he just went through the motions.

Ten minutes later, Clint was standing in his bedroom, a towel on his head and boxers covering his lower self as he searched for a shirt and pants. To his dismay, much of his clothes were dirty. The only clean outfit he could find was a pair of Iron Man pajama bottoms (a prank gift from Tony to everyone) and a Captain America tee (the first Christmas gift that Coulson ever gave him). With a deep begrudging sigh, Clint grabbed the clothes and threw them on. He figured that everyone would leave the subject of wearing pjs alone because it was still morning. Not that the subject of what was on the pjs would be ignored, but Clint could only hope that no one would point it out. Or even better, that he'd be able to get breakfast before Tony had woken up and seen them.

"Wait, is it still morning?" Clint unknowingly said aloud. Having thought that he was mentally saying that, he didn't expect an answer. But JARVIS, being the ever faithful AI, did.

"It is indeed still morning, Agent Barton," JARVIS answered, assuming that the agent had his hearing aids in. When the archer didn't respond with his normal 'thanks', JARVIS wondered what was going on. It took the AI a few minutes to realize what happened. If it was possible, the computer was embarrassed. Thankfully, Clint had no idea of the snafu and there was no other proof of the mistake that JARVIS had made. Automatically, the AI turned on every screen in the entire apartment and typed out a message to the agent. 'Are your hearing aids in, Agent Barton?'

Sadly, Clint didn't notice a single message. Once dressed, he returned to the bathroom and made sure he looked mostly awake. After being certain that he looked fine, Clint turned and left his apartment. Not once did he glance at a screen or even in the direction of the abandoned aids. As it was his first day without hearing in a non-controlled environment, it was no surprise that he completely forgot. And JARVIS felt completely useless. There was no protocol that told him what to do next. And so the AI simply tracked the archer through the tower.

* * *

Upstairs, Thor was still enjoying his marathon of QVC. Why he had turned on this particular channel, no one could say. But the god had enjoyed listening to all the different items up for sale. Steve had been the first one to make an appearance upstairs. Thor didn't notice.

"Thor?" Steve called when he entered the living room. The god turned and let loose a huge smile when he noticed the captain.

"Steven!" Thor cried before standing and striding over to the super solider. Steve had two seconds to realize he was about to get crushed/a hug from Thor before the god had his arms wrapped around his waist. Thor actually lifted the super solider up off his feet before gently placing him back down on the floor and releasing him. Steve smiled when he realized that his ribs weren't hurting like they normally did when the god hugged him. It meant that the thunderer must have been holding back on his strength. "How do you fair?"

"Hello, Thor. I'm good. How was your visit with Jane?" Steve asked, feeling relieved that now the whole group was together again. He wouldn't have to worry about any one of his team members now. It was a good feeling.

"Lady Jane was well! She showed me what she was working on. I do not understand much of it, but it was fun learning," Thor explained. Steve nodded. Before either of them could continue talking, Bruce rounded the corner. His glasses were in his hands and he was rubbing his nose and eyes. So, the poor doc had no warning before Thor rushed over and lifted him into a hug. "Doctor Banner!"

"Thor! Breathing!" Bruce gasped while Thor left the doc lifted into his hug. Smiling sheepishly, Thor placed the scientist down and backed away. Bruce nearly dropped to the ground as he tried to refill his lungs with air. Steve smiled, trying to cover his slight laughter at seeing the crushing hug. He could laugh about it because there was no tinge of green on Bruce's skin, meaning Hulk didn't deem the hug as a threat.

"I am truly sorry. Lady Jane taught me how to hug people. It seems I was... Over enthusiastic," Thor muttered. Bruce nodded, feeling much better and so he stood straighter.

"It's fine... More surprising is all," Bruce said. Thor sighed, glad that the doctor wasn't upset with him. "When did you get back?"

"Last night. The ceiling voice informed me that you were all sleeping. So, I waited here. This show is most amusing," Thor informed the two. Bruce and Steve then looked to the TV. The show was all about two women talking about some type of necklace for sale. "I enjoy listening to those who have used many of the items."

"Uh, Thor, that's not really a show," Bruce mentioned. Thor glanced back at the screen before shrugging. What did he really care? As long as it entertained him. Bruce felt the same way so he shrugged and walked off toward the kitchen which was attached to the living room by a bar. When Steve and Thor turned to follow him, Natasha and Pepper appeared.

"Hello Thor," Natasha called without even looking at the god. Pepper smiled to him when the blond god turned to them. He smiled to them but didn't go for a hug, fearing that the two wouldn't be able to handle his 'hug'. "What's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you want," Steve answered as he rounded the bar to help Bruce set up. The two had agreed the night before that they would make breakfast in the morning. Actually, they had planned on making whatever anyone wanted, within reason. They had to be able to make it.

"Pancakes?" Natasha suggested, knowing that Clint really enjoyed pancakes. She didn't understand why he did, but whenever he wanted some, she indulged him. Steve nodded in agreement to the suggestion and quickly began searching the fridge for some of the ingredients. Bruce smiled, remembering each time that there was a free choice in the matter, Natasha always asked for pancakes. Even if she only had one. But Clint made up for it each and every time.

"I would like the tart of pop," Thor declared. Bruce rolled his eyes before reaching into a cabinet and pulling out a box. As he placed it down on the table, Tony rounded the corner rubbing his eye and dressed half in pjs. He yawned before noting who was in the room.

"Point Break! How are you?" he called, ignoring everyone else in the room for the appearance of the missing Avenger. Thor smiled and nodded a hello to the billionaire, having decided that giving him a hug may not be the best idea.

"I am well," Thor answered. Tony nodded and looked to Bruce and Steve.

"What's for breakfast?"

"What do you want?" Steve responded. Tony paused to think about it.

"An omelet with peppers, onions, spinach, and tomatoes. And don't forget my coffee!" Tony pretty much demanded. "Oh wait! I also want french toast and not just a slice of bread dipped in eggs, I want actual french bread made into toast. And bacon! Sausage, completely hand made right now. Hard boiled eggs. Uh."

"How bout just the omelet and normal toast?" Bruce countered. Tony pouted.

"Fine," he moaned. Steve and Bruce chuckled at the genius before getting some of the ingredients together. Pepper then entered the kitchen.

"We have some premade, frozen sausages, I think," she informed the cooks before taking said package out of the freezer. As she placed it on the counter, she also opened the fridge to take out a pound of bacon. "And we have bacon."

"Sounds like the breakfast of champions," Steve joked before grabbing the sausages to read how to cook said item.

"What will you and Bruce be eating?" Thor questioned when he realized that the two didn't seem to be cooking for themselves.

"I'll have some pancakes," Bruce admitted. "And some bacon."

"I'll have some of these sausages, bacon, toast and my own omelet," Steve mentioned as he cracked open an egg into a heated pan. Thor nodded before going back to his pop tarts. It was then that Clint came into the kitchen. His gaze was focused on the floor and so he didn't notice everyone in the room. Nor did he even pay attention. As he had walked through the halls of the tower, his balance had been so badly messed up that he kept on bashing into walls so he kept on having to watch was he was doing.

"Clint of Barton!" Thor pretty much shouted to the archer in joy at seeing him. He was excited to see the archer as he had found a gift for him while visiting Jane. Standing, Thor went over to see Clint and placed a hand on his shoulder. It took less then a second before Thor was flipped over Clint's shoulder and slammed onto the floor with Clint on him, a knife against his throat. Tony, Natasha and Pepper all jumped to their feet in surprise as Bruce dropped the spatula in his hands and Steve spun around with a knife. Shock was on everyone's face, even Clint's.

"Thor! I'm sorry," Clint screamed before backing away from the god. Once he was a good distance away, he looked to the knife in his hand before dropping it on the ground. Thor slowly sat up, looking at Clint as if the archer had betrayed him. Clint slowly looked around at everyone's shocked faces before noticing that Steve had his own 'weapon' in his hands. His own expression turned to surprise before he looked back to Thor and the his knife. After another beat, he ran from the room, crashing half into the wall before continuing down the hall.


	18. Adjusting

**Hello all, baby Clint and I are still fine. He's just starting to get into a bit more fussy stages during the day but then I tend to feed him more formula and he goes to sleep. Or I'll throw a blanket on him and he'll drift off. But he is so sweet, I love him so much.**

**Course he's given me new story ideas... A lot of them revolve around Clint being a baby or at least a young boy. So, I'm thinking of working on an origin story for Clint. But I still have to finish this one. And I have so much more to do! _ Anyways, on with this chapter.**

* * *

"What the fuck was that about?" Tony cried, looking toward Natasha for the answer. The red head looked to Thor with an apologetic look. She realized that the god had never been informed of Clint's newest condition and had acted like normal. And given that Clint was still getting used to being deaf, he reacted as if he was getting attacked by an enemy. A completely natural response from an assassin but not a normal reaction from a good friend/team mate.

"Thor, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. Clint... Well, Clint has a new condition," Natasha began trying to explain. Tony scoffed as Thor looked confused. Steve and Bruce sheepishly went back to work on breakfast. Pepper sat back down, her hand sitting over her heart as she tried to calm down. Natasha sent a quick glare in Tony's direction. "He... Well, he's deaf."

"Deaf? What does that mean?" Thor asked, having never heard the terminology before.

"He can't hear," Natasha explained. Thor frowned. He had never heard of something like that happening. The spy sighed as she tried to figure out how to explain what she meant to a god who never really had to deal with illness before.

"Well how the fuck do you explain him attacking Thor?" Tony snapped at Natasha, not liking the fact that she ignored his earlier question. Natasha spun to look at the genius.

"Clint is a trained assassin who is used to be attacked. Many times before he has had enemies sneak up behind him to try and kill him. For us, what he did was a normal and natural response to what he deemed as a threat," Natasha snarled. Tony growled, wishing he had been warned before that something like that could happen.

"What the fuck! What if it was Pepper, or even me that did that to Clint? Why the hell didn't you warn us!" Tony shouted at the spy. Natasha moved closer to Tony in her anger. Her fists clenched tight as she tried not to take a swing at the billionaire's face.

"I thought it would have been obvious to not sneak up on him. You know how tense Clint and I can be. It will be even worse for him now that he can't hear!" Natasha growled. Tony shook his head in anger before stepping forward, toward the angry spy.

"Well obviously, it wasn't!" Tony cried. Natasha pulled back her arm and then paused. Her whole body shook with rage before finally she sighed and dropped her arm to her side.

"I'm sorry," she snipped before storming off down the hall that Clint had run through.

"Tony, that wasn't nice," Pepper admonished, standing herself and walking off after the two assassins.

"What?" Tony called, watching as his girlfriend walked off. Slowly he turned to look at Bruce, Steve and Thor. All three were watching him with mixed emotions on their faces. "I am right, right? She should have warned us."

"We need to be patient and realize that there is a lot of change that will be happening," Bruce responded. Tony snorted and turned away. "It's not just Clint that needs to adjust. We all will. I've mentioned this before."

"No, you mentioned an adjustment period," Tony stated. Bruce sighed.

"I meant it for all of us. Clint can't do things how he used too and neither can we. We can't just assume that he knows where we are at all times. Nor can we assume he has his hearing aids in every second. He is deaf, he can't hear us so that means we have to be as helpful as possible," Bruce explained. Tony scoffed before spinning on his heels and storming off down a different hall then where the two assassins and Pepper had gone down. Bruce groaned before looking back at all the food that he and Steve had made. Thor stood and glanced at the two cooks as Steve placed the knife down on the table with a deep sigh.

"I'm guessing breakfast is over?" Steve moaned.

* * *

Yet again, Clint found himself leaning against his door as he felt Natasha pound on it. This time though he did not slid down to sit on the floor. He just leaned on it for a few more seconds before pushing off of it and heading across the apartment to find the aids he had tossed so carelessly the day before. It only took a few seconds to find the small pieces and place them back into his ears.

"Clint! Clint!" Natasha screamed through the door as her fists pounded away. Clint sighed as he realized how loud she was shouting at him but still, he hadn't heard her until the aids were replaced in his ears. Sighing deeply, he walked back over and opened the door to not only see Natasha standing there, but a very upset Pepper as well.

"Nat. Pepper," Clint greeted before backing away to allow them access into his apartment. Natasha stormed by and Clint could tell by her body language that she was pissed off with Tony, once again. He sighed and watched as Pepper walked by. Again, by the woman's body language, he could tell that Tony had done something really stupid. Once they were fully past, Clint closed his door and turned to face the girls. "What did Tony do?"

"Forget it," Natasha snarled, not wanting to talk about the billionaire. Clint nodded, understanding that it must have been really stupid if she didn't want to answer. "What happened?"

"Forgot my damned aids," Clint snapped. Natasha shook her head.

"You couldn't hear Thor shouting at you?" Pepper questioned, softly, almost hesitantly as she sat down in a chair. Clint's face darkened, answering her question without saying a word. She looked away, feeling sorry for the archer. Natasha sighed, sitting down on the couch, wondering just how much worse this whole situation could get.

"Forgot my aids. Couldn't hear a damned thing," Clint said so softly that the two women almost missed it. He looked away from the two of them and turned to face the window that looked out over the New York skyline.

"Clint, you have to be careful about that," Natasha chastised him. Clint's eyes narrowed as he walked toward the window. Silently he noted that his balance had improved. It would be his first warning that his aids weren't in. "We can't have it that we're walking on eggshells around you."

"What the hell, Nat?" Clint cried, spinning around to face his partner. Pepper gasped in shock at the tones that the two were using. "I fucking forgot! It happens!"

"Well, it can't happen. What if instead of Thor, it was Pepper that greeted you this morning? What if I'm waiting outside your door in the morning? We can't have you attacking any of us each time that happens!" Natasha snapped, standing up from the couch in an effort to defend herself better. Clint shook his head, wondering why his partner sought to blame him for what happened. He had just done what was natural when he thought he was being attacked.

"I just forgot my aids!" Clint called, not sure what else he could say. But as her words echoed around in his mind, Clint realized how much of a danger he would be to Pepper, Tony and hell, even Bruce. God forbid he flipped Bruce, Hulk would have come out and attacked. Slowly, his eyes dropped to the floor before he spun to face the window.

"Do you understand why you can't forget things like that?" Natasha snarled. Clint nodded, looking slightly defeated. Natasha sighed. "You need to remember things like this. You're..."

"Too dangerous. I know," Clint growled. Natasha shook her head.

"You're in a new situation right now. You just have to remember that you-" Natasha began again. Clint spun around in anger. His face was covered in betrayal.

"Are a risk to everyone!" he nearly screamed at her. Natasha flinched in shock. Clint looked away from her again and turned to look at the ground. "Including myself."

"Why would you say that?" Pepper asked, sounding more worried then either of the assassins had ever heard before.

"Don't you remember? I tried to jump off the Helicarrier," Clint declared before spinning to look back out the window. After a second of silence, he cried out in anger and punched the glass. Pepper winced before looking away from the archer, tears beginning to form in her eyes again. Natasha frowned before walking over to Clint and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Clint, this is a new experience for all of us. I shouldn't just take it out on you," Natasha softly told the archer. Clint sighed, his body relaxing slightly at her touch. "I'm sorry."

"Just... Lets just not even talk about it. I... I'm gonna head down to the gym," Clint responded before turning away from the spy and walking toward the door. Natasha watched in misery as Clint opened the door and left, not saying another word to either woman.

* * *

Clint entered the gym without a thought and froze. There, on the mattress pads, was Thor and Steve in the mists of a fight. At quick glance, one may say that Thor was overpowering the Captain but Steve was actually the one winning the fight. Clint smiled lightly at seeing them but then he noticed something. Whenever Steve got a hit in on Thor's back, the god would wince before going back to the fight and Steve would give him an apologetic look. It took a few moments before Clint realized that it had to have been when he flipped Thor. Landing on the ground must have hurt the god more then anyone expected.

Feeling guilty, the archer spun on his heel and left the gym. He really didn't want to be there with Thor at the moment. Not really paying attention to where he was going, Clint was stunned when the next door to open was the one to the range. Pausing at the door, Clint wondered what he should do. Normally, in a time like this, Clint would start shooting, if only to relax. Sighing, Clint entered and allowed the door to close. Slowly, he made his way deeper into the room before turning to the lockers where his bows were locked up. Removing the key card he always carried, Clint unlocked the doors and opened it before grabbing his newest bow. Petting it like a cat, Clint frowned and looked at the other bows. Hiding deep in the back was his first bow. Replacing the bow in his hand, Clint reached for that one.

It had taken him many years to find this particular bow. He had gotten it when he stole it from Trickshot while working at Carson's Carnival of Traveling Wonders. Hell, he only joined the carnival at the behest of his brother, Barney. But after watching Trickshot, he feel in love with the idea of archery. So when he found this bow left in a trash box, Clint took it and spent every spare second he had training with it.

Feeling rather nostalgic, Clint messed a bit with the string, making sure the tension was still good. Pleased that it was still as tight as he remembered, he grabbed a quiver of normal arrows and spun around to face the targets. Strapping the quiver to his back, Clint then reached back and grabbed an arrow. Silently, he knocked it onto the bow and took aim at the nearest target. Letting out a breath, he steadied himself. Inhaling as he made sure it was completely in line, he let go with his next exhale.

THWACK!

Clint nearly cheered with joy. The arrow was sitting on the edge of the furthest ring. It was just like the first shot he had ever taken back when he was a little kid. Smiling, Clint grabbed for another arrow and proceeded to do the same thing. This time the arrow struck in the middle of the furthest ring. Grunting in surprised pleasure, Clint tried again. Yet again, it was closer to the center but still not there. Groaning, Clint tried a fourth time.

It took three more arrows before Clint was able to hit the center mark. Pleased, Clint finished the rest of the quiver into that one target. Each arrow after hit the center. Wanting to scream with pleasure, Clint restrained himself in order to walk toward the target and collect the arrows. Once collected, he returned to the firing platform and aimed for the next target back.

Three hours later and Clint was landing center shots on every target. Feeling much better then he had since finding out about his loss of hearing, Clint decided to move onto the next step. Going around and collecting the arrows once more, he returned to the firing platform and froze. Someone was in the room with him. Knocking an arrow, he then spun and aimed it toward the door before pausing.

"Bruce?" Clint called in shock. The doc smiled and walked further into the room as Clint lowered the bow and arrow.

"Hello, how are you doing?" Bruce asked, his eyes glancing over the targets. He saw numerous holes in every target but mostly it was all on the center marks. Clint unknocked the arrow and returned it to the quiver before glancing over the targets like Bruce. He sighed and shrugged.

"Good, now," Clint admitted. Bruce nodded, understanding why Clint felt better about being able to hit the targets.

"JARVIS mentioned you've been down here for a little over three hours," Bruce mentioned as if Clint didn't know. When the archer's eyes widened slightly, Bruce wondered if the archer had just simply lost track or he really didn't know. "What have you been doing?"

"Shooting," Clint stated as if it was obvious. Bruce smiled, having expected this answer. Clint snorted when he noticed that Bruce had figured that that was going to be what he said. It meant that they were hanging out with Tony too much. "I've been resetting myself. After... Well, after this morning I figured out that my balance is messed up."

"Your sense of balance was thrown off by your lack of hearing," Bruce mentioned. Clint frowned and glared over at a target. Bruce sighed. "We should have warned you."

"I wouldn't have listened," Clint admitted with a soft smile. Bruce chuckled, knowing how true that statement was. "It's probably for the best anyways."

"What? Finding out the way you did?"

"Yeah. That and... Learning that I can't be... Well, me," Clint said. Bruce frowned, unsure what the archer meant. Clint glanced over at the doctor and sighed when he saw the confused expression. "It makes it easier to be... Dismissed when I can't even shoot. I'm a danger. I... I can't even tell when a team mate tries to greet me."

"Clint. Don't be like that," Bruce begged. Clint snorted and turned backed to the targets. Bruce moved slightly behind the archer and watched as he knocked an arrow and aimed. "Clint. We all have to adjust to this new change. Not just you."

THWACK!

"I don't want to adjust! Hell, I don't want you guys to adjust!" Clint shouted, loading up three arrows before shooting them all. All three hit three different targets, dead center. Bruce smiled at the shots. He was glad that Clint was getting back to normal. "Bruce..."

"Hmm?" Clint slowly turned to look at him. His eyes looked drained and soft. Hell, he looked tired.

"I don't think I can do this. I mean, even if Cap is able to convince Fury to leave me on the team... I don't think I can still work with you guys," Clint admitted. Bruce frowned. "All I can do it shoot things. And even right now... I'm not as good at it as I was before."

"Clint, you are a great tactician. Many battle plans are not done by Steve, but actually by you. Where you station yourself in every battle, high above us all, you can see things that have helped save many lives. Never mind the countless times you have saved each Avenger," Bruce pointed out. Clint scoffed and knocked another arrow before shooting that one as well. Bruce stepped forward before he could knock another arrow and placed a hand on his. Clint slowly looked over his shoulder at the doctor. "We don't need you as an archer. We just need you."

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**Okay, please review, favorite and follow! It's seemed to slow down these past few chapters. I love even the simple reviews of 'poor Clint' or even 'update please.' Just, try and fill up my e-mail, please! ^_^**


	19. Coulson

**Argh! I completely missed Friday! How could I have done that? Sorry people. Anyways. Baby Clint and I are doing well. He is now 11lbs 11ozs and 23.5 inches tall. I wish I could post a pic of him for you.**

**Anyways, here is the next chapter.**

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Coulson stormed around his office getting further and further upset. He hadn't gotten the report that Clint had left medical which was something he had pretty much ordered Ames to do before the archer left. Now it was the day after Clint and the other Avengers returned to Tony's tower which was being redubbed Avengers Tower. Coulson had just wanted to see Clint one last time before Fury could say that the agent couldn't go see him. While he was on the Helicarrier, Fury couldn't stop Coulson. But now that the archer was gone, Coulson couldn't get permission to leave unless he was going on a mission. He had already tried.

"Agent Coulson?" a soft voice called through the closed office door. Coulson stormed over to it, opened it with a snap of his wrist, and nearly snarled at the agent on the other side. The agent was older then Coulson expected but the young man seemed terrified to be standing before him.

"Yes?" he asked, the anger in his body leaking into his voice. He so did not want to be dealing with someone right now. All he wanted was the ability to go see Clint and make sure he was okay. He hadn't been allowed to see him since the archer's suicide attempt. A fact that Coulson wished he could have rectified but he kept on getting a lot of paperwork that needed to be done quickly. At least, he had until today.

"Director Fury is requesting your presence in his office," the man said, sounding more fearful then he looked. Coulson frowned, wondering why the director didn't call him on his cell or even his office phone. Heck, Fury could have sent an e-mail his way.

"What for?" Coulson questioned, trying to get a fix on what was going on now. The younger agent was too on edge for this just to be a simple little thing. So, maybe he had an idea as to what Fury wanted. But when the agent shrugged his shoulders, Coulson felt dread settle onto his stomach. There were few times that Fury ever asked for Coulson's presence and didn't give some type of warning as to why he was being called. One of those times recently was when he learned about Loki taking over Clint.

"Shall I tell him you are on your way?" the agent softly inquired. Coulson nodded before exiting his office and walking down the hall. Behind him he heard the agent put the call to Fury, saying that he was going to be arriving in a few minutes. Somehow, hearing that made it all that much worse.

It took Coulson less then two minutes before he arrived outside Fury's door. Course it was three more minutes before Coulson finally decided he should get over his worry and just knock on the damned door. After the first knock, the older agent heard Fury tell him to enter. Taking a deep breath and quickly releasing it, Coulson opened the door and entered the office. Fury was sitting behind his desk, looking rather tired. His one good eye was focused on Coulson and nothing else. Coulson glanced away when he noticed that and searched the room. No one else was there.

"Shut the door," Fury muttered. Coulson nodded before turning around to close the door. Once it was closed, Coulson turned back and saw that Fury was holding a hand out to one of the chairs before him. Sighing, Coulson shifted over to it and sat down. The Director gave him a nod before looking over at his computer screen. Silence enveloped the room for a few seconds before Fury began typing on the keyboard.

Coulson waited another few minutes before he felt antsy. Fury was still typing away. Neither man said anything. The older agent shifted slightly in his chair as Fury stopped typing and began scanning the computer screen. Another minute passed and then the Director began typing again. Coulson frowned. Why was he called here if Fury wasn't going to say anything to him? When Fury stopped typing again, Coulson cleared his throat.

"Why am I here, sir?" Coulson asked as Fury turned to look at him. The Director said nothing. Just raised his hand and held up one finger to indicate another second. Coulson sighed but nodded his consent, not that Fury needed it to continue working. Fury smirked at his old friend before focusing on his screen and reading some sort of mission report.

Yet again it took a while before Coulson was getting annoyed. He'd rather be back in his office, pacing back and forth. That just showed how upsetting this whole situation was to the old agent. After so long of having to avoid all the Avengers for fear of them leaving S.H.I.E.L.D, it hurt to not be around them now that everyone knew about him being alive and that they weren't leaving... Why was he being kept from them?

"So, I heard you asked for Agent Barton's release records," Fury suddenly stated while still working on the report that was in front of him. But he did notice that Coulson winced. Fury smirked lightly at Coulson's reaction. He actually hadn't been informed until that very second. Fury just assumed. And he loved when his assumptions were correct.

"I wanted to see him before he left," Coulson admitted, feeling that he shouldn't argue with the director on this fact. Fury shook his head in dismay at his friend before shutting down the report and looking at him. Coulson frowned. "Why was I not allowed to see him? They know I'm alive now."

"You have other duties now. Barton is not your concern. Your new team is," Fury retorted. Coulson's frown deepened but he didn't argue that he had a new team and was enjoying them. They got their jobs done and didn't back talk as much as Clint used to. It was a good feeling to have that again but at the same time...

"I miss them," Coulson muttered. Fury sighed.

"Them? Or just Barton?" Fury asked.

"All of them. Clint, Natasha, Stark... I barely even spoke to Rogers," Coulson said. Fury nodded. He was one of the few who knew of Coulson's obsession with Steve. Hell, that was one of the main reasons why he knew exactly where to find the trading cards and how to cover them in blood. He was still surprised that Coulson hadn't gotten his revenge for doing that to them. "I just wanted to tell him... Goodbye, I guess."

"Request denied." Coulson sighed deeply. He already figured that out. It was rather obvious with how little he was able to interact with the Avengers after they found out the truth. And to make matters worse, none of them even noticed. They were too focused on Clint to realize that Coulson wasn't dealing with them. "Do you understand why I can't have you hanging around them?"

"Honestly, sir. Not really. We know now that they won't break up the Avengers and so they aren't in danger. Hell, they actually looked like they wanted to work with me again," Coulson stated, remembering back to his meeting with them the week prior. Fury sighed before leaning back in his seat. He had so hoped that Coulson would understand why he could never work with the Avengers. It was bad enough that Fury wanted to allow it, but he couldn't. For all of their sakes.

"Agents Barton and Romanoff have only ever worked well with you. The few times we tried to send them with another handler, they revolted. Now, here they are willingly working with someone else. Rogers may not be a handler, but he is a leader. They work under him just as well as they work under you," Fury began but stopped. Coulson frowned.

"Well, that's good news. But I don't see how that stops me from being the Avengers liaison," Coulson mentioned. Fury leaned forward, putting his elbows on his desk and his head on his knuckles.

"Before the events of Manhattan, the Council went into talks of breaking up your little team."

"Why? I thought they were pleased with our track record."

"Oh, they were. So much so that they wanted to create more teams that were just as close. Barton would have been put under Sitwell. Romanoff under Hill and you would have been assigned two new agents. If none of you could work well with the new teams, the Council would have... Well, fired you," Fury stated, hesitating at the 'fire-ing'. Coulson sighed. It still wasn't really making sense. Since Clint first arrived at S.H.I.E.L.D, the Council had been trying to get rid of him. And it was made even worse when the archer brought in Natasha.

"And?" Coulson asked, having heard these threats so many times that he was getting bored with them. Fury shook his head. Coulson just wasn't getting it.

"It wouldn't be normal-"

"They would kill them. I know. But I've heard this throughout their time with this agency. When will the Council come up with something new? And what is the real reason I can't work with the Avengers?"

"The Council doesn't know you're alive." Coulson paused at that. He couldn't have heard that properly. How can the Council not know he's alive? Hill reports to them just as frequently as Fury and Hill would never lie about that. Or would she? But then...

"Does that Council know about the team I'm heading?" Coulson questioned. Fury sighed and his face was buried into his hands. There was a soft muttering that made Coulson frown at his old friend.

"They do. But they think that Ward is the leader," Fury admitted when he noticed Coulson leveling an angry gaze on him. At those words, Coulson went to his feet and began pacing around the room. He couldn't believe that Fury would do this to him. First it was the mandatory vacation in Tahiti with the evil physical therapist then it was keeping his life a secret from everyone under Level 7. And next, not being able to see Clint and Natasha no matter when they arrive at the Helicarrier. But this. This was the last straw.

"So... Do I even technically work for S.H.I.E.L.D?" Coulson softly inquired. Fury visibly winced at the question. As much as Fury wanted to keep Coulson, he wasn't sure how long he could. Slowly, the director shook his head no. "So... I could... Right now, just go to Avengers Tower, see Clint and you can't punish me?"

"Well..." Fury began, so not wanting to get into this. Coulson leveled a glare on his friend. Fury sighed. "If you left without my permission, I'd have to send a kill order out on you."

"What?"

"You know too much. Though you technically aren't a S.H.I.E.L.D employee right now, you are a danger. You were... Are my right hand man. You know every code, every base, every strategy plan... I can't just let you walk away," Fury explained. Coulson's gaze turned dark.

"So, I'm trapped." Fury looked away. Coulson clenched his fists. "I'm going to pretend that this conversation never happened. But know this. If Clint or any of the other Avengers ever ask to see me, you will bring them to me. Personally."

"I can't."

"Nick." Fury winced at his first name. Coulson was beginning to frighten him just slightly. "You will let them see me. Or I'll walk. Even if it does mean my death. Again."

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**Well? What do you think?**


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